Mister Pinecone
by Niccolo
Summary: Riku, a prince at school. Sora, a schoolkid. Sora hates Riku's guts. Unfortunately for him, they board in the same room! Where will it lead? AU, Soku shounen ai? and other pairings. R&R, flames shall not be tolerated. Rated T for language, Chap 18 up!
1. Death Knoll

**Disclaimer: I'm sure you've read enough of these to insert your own.**

**Author's Talk: This has been one hell of an enjoyable fanfic to write. A warning to those of ya who are sensitive to the stuff, this is going to end up a shounen-ai (Ie: Two guys romantically connected) and may or may not end up with lemons. You know what they are. If any of you flame me for one of the above topics, then _I will hunt you down and make you apologise to the readers who love that stuff._**

**Righto, I hope you enjoy my fic.**

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Chapter 1: Death Knoll

"Oh my God!"

"Look, there he is!"

"He really _is_ a prince!"

"Kyaaa!"

The brown haired boy looked up sleepily. It was the first day of term-it was only homeroom, for goodness' sake-and the girls were already screaming. He groaned and looked at their latest object of 'kya-ing' as he and his twin brother called it. There, standing in the doorway, was the new student. A little taller than Sora, and much leaner. Wavy white hair fell from his scalp to past his shoulders, framing a picture-perfect face. Electric blue eyes gazed out from said face, sliding over the class. A tight, sarcastic smile graced his lips for a second. The teacher, one Mr. Leonhart, watched the haughty boy out of the corner of his eye, warily moving to the front of his desk.

"Class… CLASS!" he thundered. The girls stopped 'kya-ing' at his voice, hardly ever raised. When Mr. Leonhart-Squall to his fellow teachers-raised his voice, you were quiet. Mr. Leonhart wasn't nicknamed after a miniature storm for no reason. "Class," he continued in a more pleasant voice. "This is the new student, Riku Zephyr. He's joining the boarding community, as he is from far-off…" the teacher looked to Riku for help.

"Radiant Garden," the boy said in a voice as arrogant and challenging as his attitude.

"Yes, well, would you like to tell us a bit about yourself?" Mr. Leonhart asked, clearly unperturbed at the boy's tone of voice.

Riku took a step forwards, then-to everyone's astonishment-bowed low to the class. And not a formal bow of greeting, this was the bow of one from a court. "Well, as you know, I am Riku Zephyr. I am…" At about this point, Sora simply zoned out.

_Brilliant. I hope the damn girls can control themselves. I can't stand it when they squeal. Damned pretty-boy, who does he think he is?_ Sora thought vaguely to himself, much more interested in the sight outside the window.

"… a year older, as I was very sick one year…"

Sora was a boarder at Twilight High, in his eighth year. Twilight High was-as the name suggested-situated on the outskirts of Twilight Town. The boarding community was small, as most students lived nearby. There was, in fact, only one boarding house-both the boys and the girls were mixed up in there. Well, they _did_ sleep in separate wings-for obvious reasons.

"… I hope I can get along with all of you."

Sora enjoyed living in the boarding house. He had a room to himself, as his roommate had been expelled for trying to blow up the place-what was his name? Xemnas? Yeah, that sounded about right. Weird freaky silver-haired guy. Good riddance.

It was right about then that Sora decided to zone back into the present. Just as Riku plopped down into the seat next to him. Of course, Riku would never describe himself as 'plopping' down into the seat. But that's neither here nor there.

The new kid leaned over to Sora's desk and tapped quietly on it. "Hey, you board too?"

Sora nodded subtly, not wanting to draw his teacher's wrath down upon him. "Great. Show me around the school later, okay?"

Sora winced internally at the student's lack of tact. _Not 'could you,' or even 'please'! Who does he think he is? A prince? And he didn't even ask my name! What an asshole._

* * *

Lunch hour arrived. It had seemed like it never would. 

Sora slumped down into his seat in the cafeteria next to his twin brother, Roxas. Roxas was almost exactly the same as Sora in terms of attitude. Roxas looked similar to Sora, yet his soft, spiky hair was a much lighter shade of brown. What freaked most people out was that both boys' cerulean eyes could flash with an intensity to melt diamonds. Most of Sora's friends had learned to stay _well_ away from him when his eyes were like that; it usually meant that someone had gotten under his skin and was about to become just a statistic, or he had some madcap plan that was going to get them all sent to the principal's office. Most people had learned, anyway. Only two people hadn't; Roxas, whom Sora had learned everything from, and Axel, who simply loved tagging along with the plans 'cause they invariably pissed someone off and he was always put in charge of the matches. And we all know just how much Axel loves burning stuff. Anyway, Axel was two years their senior; yet he was likely the most immature of them all. Except maybe for Demyx. Quite frankly, when Demyx-who was a year younger than the pyromaniac-and Axel put their heads together and came up with another bizarre prank-they had managed to dye their principal's best suit fluorescent pink once-people generally dove for cover. Their parents were still paying for the science lab. And the library. Honestly, one would expect that books would simply burn! But no, they had managed to make them _explode._

Sora groaned and lay his head on the table. Roxas patted him on the shoulder. "Tough luck, man."

Axel and Demyx looked curiously at Sora. "Sora, what did you do? It's only the first day of term, you know!"

Sora groaned again. "We have a pretty-boy in our class. All the girls have been quietly sighing over him all day, and I had to drag him to each and every class. He's a right royal pain in the-"

"Neck, right?" Riku slid into the seat next to him. Sora only groaned again, the rest of the table stared.

"Jeez, you don't give me a break!" Sora complained. "I thought you would be sitting with the girls by now!"

The silvery-white haired teen only laughed. "Nah, not them. I can't stand it when girls act like that. Makes me feel like some sort of art display."

Sora could only stare at the boy. Gone was the haughtiness, the I'm-sitting-on-a-pinecone-pointy-end-up attitude. Apparently, this guy was not a complete asshole. "Besides, you're supposed to be showing me around!" Well, scratch that idea. The guy most certainly WAS a complete moron.

"Hey, you! Be a little more polite, okay?" Axel growled at the younger boy. "Don't try and push Sora around, or I'll set you on fire."

"He'll do it, too," Demyx quipped, earning an alarmed stare from Riku.

Sora could only groan some more. Would this day never end?

* * *

Sora walked side-by-side with Mr. Pinecone, A.K.A. Riku. He was _trying_ to lead Riku to Physics, but the corridors were too packed. Thankfully a sort-of area of calmness surrounded Pinecone Man, creating an empty space about two feet around him. People tried to get out of his way, but that didn't change the fact the corridors were still crowded. And on top of that were the whispers. Several caught his ears, setting them on fire. "They look so _good_ together!" 

"Wow, cute couple!"

"Kyaaaaa!"

Sora couldn't wait until the day was over. He thoroughly wanted to kill Riku here and now. The bastard had been ordering him around like he was royalty or something. Thankfully, the end of the day was nigh. One last period. Then he coul get back to the relative safety of the boarding house and his room, one with lots and lots of locks on them. Twenty, at last count. And countless traps. They had been installed over the years by the occupants. It had been a room traditionally given to paranoid people. Sora kept finding more traps-usually the hard way-and more locks. Once he was in there and had al the locks set, nobody could bother him. The last occupant-a lightning-crazed girl named Larxene-had been a genius at making traps. As she was a semi-friend of his, due to being Axel's undeclared girlfriend, he often sought her out for advice on disarming the damned things. She was in Axel's year, but Axel didn't board. This resulted in her often going home with him during weekends.

Sora sighed and pushed on, nearly dragging Mr. Pinecone, so desperate was he to get the day over and done with.

* * *

The final bell rang. Sora swore he could hear a choir of angels singing out in praise. More ominously though was the new bell tone. It sounded like a death knoll. 

Sora stepped out of the classroom, trying to get away from the room before-Riku grabbed his collar. "Slow down, man! Show me the way back to the lockers, please!" Well, one good thing had come of Riku sitting at his table during lunch. He had started saying please.

Minutes later, Sora had packed his schoolbag and was trudging along back to the boarding house when _he_ caught up with him. Sora cringed internally. There was a jingle next to him, a jingle Sora knew only too well. Now he knew why the school bell sounded like a death-call. That jingle was an enormous keyring for a vast amount of keys. Twenty, to be exact. In other words…

"Sora, can you tell me what all of these keys are for?"

Sora grinned. He would show Riku the door with the locks, but he _wouldn't_ be telling him about the traps. Life had just gotten better.

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**More random crazy Author's Talk: Yah. I'm currently hiding in my basement, a vengeful Riku trying to kill me for calling him Mr. Pinecone. **

**Apart from my current difficulty, could you please R&R? You guys may just be able to appease the psycho. Lord knows I won't write another chapter unless you do so.**

** Niccolo out.  
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	2. The Pinecone Falls Out

**Disclaimer. Trust me, you guys will know when I own Kingdom Hearts. It should be... sometime after the Armageddon.**

**Author's Ramblings: Writing this fanfic has been a real blast, ya know? It's always great when I receive reviews, I get this warm fuzzy feeling inside.**

** To my reviewers: KianaRia, catwwomen47 and TapiocaTacos, thanks for the encouragement. This next chappy is for you guys.  
**

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Chapter 2: The Pinecone Falls Out

Riku fitted the last key into the socket, turning it slowly. There was a click, a click that sounded very much like a gun's safety being taken off to Sora. _Well, there's still all the traps..._

Riku was about to push open the door when he stopped for a moment, examining the doorframe. "Sora, there appear to be miniature taser-guns embedded in your doorframe," he noted questioningly. "And… For the love of all that is good and chocolatey… barbed tripwire? Acid-droppers? _You have_ _a flamethrower? In your doorframe?_" Riku catalogued each and every trap, each one giving Sora a stronger sinking feeling. "Yeah, that last one was Axel's idea…"

Riku just glared at him. "_Why the blazes do you have all of these traps?_" he whispered harshly. "_Are you trying to kill me?_"

_Yes, but I'm not going to tell you that,_ Sora thought. "No… this room used to belong to a paranoid person. They set all the traps and the locks. Well, it was a succession of crazy people, actually."

Riku shook his head and pushed the door open, stepping neatly over the tripwire. _Damn, I was hoping at least ONE would catch him..._

* * *

Dinner was an uneventful affair. Sora had to practically lead the Pinecone Man by the hand to the boarder's dining hall (the hall they ate breakfast and dinner in) though thankfully he didn't have to actually _physically_ do that. The guy acted as if he had an entourage at all times; is that all Sora was to him? Bah, let Mr. Pinecone act like some royal idiot. Sora didn't care. At least, he told himself that.

Now as we all know, Sora is, above all else, two things. He is an incorrigible optimist-except where Riku is concerned-and he loves to be liked. He really can't stand having people hating him. Or treating him as a lower class. So, after being treated as some sort of simple peon or servant for a whole day, our favourite brunet was just about ready to throttle the boy.

Sora slipped into a seat next to his brother. The table was empty apart from him, Roxas and... Riku. Riku was sitting opposite the two, watching them intently over his tray of food. Sora pointed a chopstick at Riku's stir-fry. "It won't bite you, you know." Riku was watching every movement Sora's hands made. As soon as Sora picked up a mouthful, Riku's gaze would switch to Roxas and watch his hands. It was really creeping Sora out.

"Um... I don't actually know how to use chopsticks," Riku admitted, turning a pale pink colour. Sora and Roxas stared at him for a second, before turning to each other and bursting into laughter, leaning on each other's shoulders. "Hey, it's not that funny! I'm _hungry_, you know!" Riku glared at the two, the opened his mouth. Sora knew what was coming. _Show me how to use chopsticks._ No 'please', nothing. "Could- Could one of you teach me to use chopsticks? Please?"

Sora just about fell off his chair. "Wow, maybe that pinecone isn't shoved all the way up after all," he commented. Riku glared at him, guessing the intended insult. Roxas snorted into his cup of juice. "Okay, I'll show you." Sora stood up and moved around the table, slipping in next to the confused boy. He demonstrated putting the chopsticks correctly into the hand and how to open and shut them. Riku tried, but couldn't quite manage. Sora sighed and repositioned Riku's index finger. The older boy gave an involuntary start under his touch, as if shocked. "Now try," he asked, ignoring Mr. Pinecone's jump.

Thankfully, the boy managed to get it right this time. Sora moved back round the table, only to find Roxas had managed to eat all of his food as well. This prompted laughter from both sides of the table, finishing with Riku sliding half of his food onto Sora's empty plate. "There you go. Payback, I guess," the white-haired teen shrugged. Sora and Roxas only stared in shock, identical thoughts running through their brains. _Is this the same guy?_

* * *

Riku stepped into the bedroom he currently shared with Sora, giving it a quick glance-over. He hadn't had a chance to really take a look around and unpack before dinner, so he did so now. The room was quite large, semi-divided with a huge pin-up board. Sora's side was festooned with diagrams. A closer inspection showed them to be detailed descriptions of each and every trap he had found. Apparently there were several around the room, too. Jeez, the last owner must have been a maniac!

Each occupant had their own desk as well, Sora's quite naturally covered in paper, pens, chocolate wrappers and... A jar of peanut butter! _Well, maybe my roommate doesn't have such bad taste after all? _Riku continued his tour of the bedroom, giving an 'ah!' of surprise when he examined the underside of his desk for traps. Sora had just walked in; Riku could hear his quiet footsteps. "Hey, come here! Take a look at this!" Riku pulled a hidden lever and a thin workbook fell into his hand. He placed it on the desk. Scrawled in the name-spot was one word, _Xemnas_. Riku flipped it open, his eyes darting down the page. Sora leaned over his shoulder, curious.

The plans were for a machine of some kind, but Riku had no idea what. All he could tell was that it was big, destructive and clearly not intended for any good use. 'Sora... Just who was your old roommate?"

Sora shuffled his feet. "He... was Xemnas. He got expelled last term for trying to blow up the school with _that,_" he said, pointing at the aptly-named _Oblivion_. "He was a real fruitcake. Always trying to blow stuff up. He's responsible for about half of the traps on the door, I think."

Riku shook his head. "This guy was either a genius or just plain crazy."

"Both, I think. He was top of the class in everything, except phys-ed. The only phys-ed class he would participate in was the sword-fighting one," Sora offered.

Riku's white hair shook again. "Brilliant. How could you tolerate him? You aren't like him, are you?"

Sora immediately grew defensive. "Gee, I dunno. Maybe I put up with him 'cause I had to? Just like I'm gonna have to put up with you for a term!" he regretted that instantly, seeing a wave of sadness cross Riku's face momentarily.

Riku decided it was time to change the topic. He roughly thrust Sora out of the room. "I'm going to unpack, and you'll get in the way. Go annoy someone else."

Sora stared at the door that had just been slammed in his face. Wait, had he just been kicked out of his own room? Bastard. _Sheesh. He was nice a second before. I really put my foot in it, didn't I?_

* * *

Riku slid down the face of the door, tears threatening to well out of his eyes. "What's wrong with me? Why do I do that every time?" Riku quashed the tears and pulled up his mental shield. He had dropped it, baring himself to the world to try and make a friend. And Sora had gone and thrown salt in.

It was no good. The tears simply came back. Riku tossed himself into his bed and pulled the covers over, trying to get to sleep, eyes weeping.

* * *

Sora kicked a ball as he walked down the hallway into the common room. The ball ricocheted off and whacked a younger kid over the head. Sora took no notice and kept walking, nearly going headfirst into Larxene.

The blonde took one look at Sora and propelled him off down a corridor to a small sitting room. She thrust him down into the sofa and sat next to him. "Now, tell me what happened."

Sora cringed. He had forgotten about Larxene's inherent ability to read people like a book. So he explained the whole day to her, pouring it all out. _I'm babbling, aren't I?_ He saw Larxene as a bit of an older sister, as he could often ask her for advice. And like an older sibling, she was as likely to electrocute him as help him. When he started repeating himself, she zapped him. "Ow!" he cried, rubbing his arm. "How the blazes did you get that inside?"

Larxene grinned and shook her head. "Well, it seems like you've acted like a real asshole."

Sora could feel himself getting angry. "What do you mean, me? Riku's the one who-"

A wave of the taser hushed Sora. "Yes, you. You could have been a little nicer to the poor boy. You don't actually know who he is, do you?"

Sora's eyes narrowed. "Who is he then?"

"I'm not telling you. Find out for yourself. _And go apologise._" The accompanying shock got Larxene's message across. There was a distinct '_or else'_ hanging in the air.

* * *

Weird. All the lights were off in their room. _Maybe he's asleep?_ Sora thought hopefully. An image of him being tortured by Larxene drifted into his mind. He shook it off and sat down on his bed, tugging his sneakers off. He lay back on his bed, trying to think up what to say. Before long, a sound came to him. It was a quiet sobbing, the sobbing of one who doesn't want to be heard. Sora looked over at the lump on the bed opposite him. _Riku?_

Sora padded over and shook the lump where the shoulder should be. Riku shot upright, in the darkness nearly colliding with Sora's face. "I'm not crying, don't hurt me! Don't hurt me!" the babbling teenager yelled, cowering. Right about then he noticed just who he was speaking to. "Oh... it's you."

"Hey, come on. Play nice. I just wanna apologise."

"No, I should. I acted like an-"

"Asshole? Yeah. But so did I," Sora mumbled. "I'm... Sorry for being rude to ya."

In the dark Riku smiled and patted the side of his bed. "You don't know just how happy it makes me."

"What makes you happy?" Sora asked, sitting on the side of the bed.

"Sora, were you listening to my introduction?" Sora's head shook, an embarrassed flush hidden by the dim light. "Well, I'm from Radiant Garden. My father there is the King."

Sora fell off the bed in surprise. When he sat up, he stared at Riku. "You-You're a prince?" he almost shouted. 'Well, that explains a bit," he muttered, a bit more quietly.

Riku grinned. "Yeah. I can act like a-what was your phrase?-right royal pain in the ass. Well, I've got the second part down pat." He sobered after that. "But that's not it. You see, wherever I go people have treated me like royalty."

"I wonder why? Maybe it's 'cause you ARE royalty?" Sora said teasingly, poking him in the side.

"But, you were the first one to not do that. To you, I was just some jerk. To be treated equally was actually quite refreshing," Riku said, smiling softly. "And for that I thank you."

_Wait, he liked that? Is he a nutcase?_ Sora thought to himself. "So..."

"So. Friends?" Riku offered a quivering hand to the dumbstruck boy.

Sora took it gratefully. "Maybe. Depends if you can dislodge that pinecone or not," he said teasingly. But privately, he thought _Why was he scared of making a friend? Is that why his hand was shaking?_

Riku snorted and shoved Sora off the bed. He hit the ground with a yelp, leaping straight back on and tackling the older boy. They spent the better part of ten minutes trying to wrestle each other off the bed and onto the floor.

Finally Riku's greater strength prevailed and Sora ended up on the floor. Again. "Winner, me!" he crowed. Sora muttered to himself and wearily clambered into bed, asleep before his head hit the pillow.

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**Hey there guys! Since you were kind enough to read, take a minute to investigate what happens if ya push the lonely purple button... please?**

**If you don't, then the next chapter will be all about Riku getting beaten up by three toddlers.**

**Riku (captive) :Nicky'll do it! Please, for the love of peanuts, review! **

**Oh, and to those of you who get the peanuts joke, why didn't you review in my other fanfic? If you don't get it, go read _Shadows of the Heart._ Chapter four should be up to explain it.  
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	3. Part of the Group

**Author's Inane Chatter: Ya well, it appears that the 'timid Riku' idea has been well received. At least I haven't had any letter bombs yet. I'm going to stick with the idea, don't worry though! His normal attitude that we all know and love will be back! Just not this chapter.**

**To all of you who reviewed: Thanks a bunchness. Please, review this one too! **

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Chapter 3: part of the Group

Sora stumbled downstairs, dressed and ready for school. Damn, Riku wasn't here yet. Where was the bastard? They had to go to breakfast still. Rule was, get dressed for school before going anywhere near the food. Sora made sure he always followed this rule. He loved his food.

"Hey, Sora!" He looked up at his name, to be greeted by a girl with dark brown hair and big green eyes. _Damn._ Selphie smiled at him then looked over his shoulder, as if looking for someone. Another girl stepped up next to her, also looking for someone. More and more girls followed, until Sora was entirely hemmed in. And they all had an extremely evil glint in their eyes.

"Where is he?"

"What's he like?"

"Have you seen him naked?"

"Kyaa!"

The questions went on and on. Sora sighed, realising the focus of their questions. He shouldered his way through the pack of girls and clapped said focus of attention–who had just come down the stairs-on the shoulder. "Hey, unless you want to be stuck here, better run."

Riku glanced over at the girls, who had now been joined by most of the boarding house. "Shit. I was hoping to just be normal..."

"RUN!" Sora yelled, grabbing Riku's arm and bolting.

* * *

As they ran, Riku kept mentally kicking himself. _Oh yeah, you'll fit in. None of them'll care that you're royalty. Real intelligent. They all just wanna use you. You should have remembered that, and stayed home with your tutor,_ he thought angrily. Sora led them up the path towards the dining room, stopping just short and pulling him into the shadows of the medical centre. "Sorry 'bout that, Riku. Forgot about the assholes who just liked your position..."

Riku grinned and shook his head. "Nah, I'm kinda used to it. But... I wonder if any of them'll treat me like a normal kid?"

'That's easy. Pull the pinecone out and you'll do just fine," Sora grinned.

Riku socked his arm. "Bastard." He stormed off in mock-anger towards the dining hall.

Riku and Sora stopped at the entrance. The line wasn't that long, but long enough. The closest person noticed them and whispered to his neighbour, who whispered to hers, and so on. Pretty soon the whole hall was staring at the two friends. "Don't stand in the way, bro. People are hungry," Roxas startled the pair, propelling them inside. "So, you two seem to be actually getting along now. That's great."

Riku glanced at Sora once, a sidelong glance part wariness and part amusement. Sora just shook his head and muttered darkly. He was not a morning person, and so far little had inspired him to become otherwise.

After finally managing to grab trays of food, the three slid into their customary table. Unfortunately, most of the eyes in the dining hall were following them, whispers emanating from any group of people. Sora leaned in, beckoning Riku and his brother to do the same. "You know... this is really creepy."

Roxas grinned. "I've got an idea." He pulled out from his shirt pocket a miniature notebook and a pen. The whole boarding house knew that notebook. All bar Sora feared said notebook. Roxas grinned a sadistic grin and flipped it open.

The response was immediate. Everyone in the whole room quickly turned back to their trays, suddenly more interested in their over-done sausages and fried eggs than the small group at the back table. Riku stared. "Roxas... What did you do?"

Roxas showed Riku the notebook, flipping through some of the pages. The book was filled with detailed plans of everything from pranks to the boarding house. The second half of the book was devoted solely to the former. "I write down my ideas for pranks in here. I keep 'em catalogued and use them on people who piss me off. Go figure," he said nonchalantly.

Riku sighed in wonder. "Sora, just how do you know this crazy bastard?"

Sora grinned and threw an arm around his sibling. "Why, he's my adorable younger twin!"

Roxas grumbled and punched Sora in the arm. Riku hid a smile behind a hand. "So, _your highness,_" Roxas said with a vague sense of a challenge. He clearly didn't believe that the prince was quite ready to be befriended. "Howcome you're so friendly now?"

Riku grinned and leaned close so prying ears couldn't hear him. "It's amazing what one night together can do," he whispered.

Roxas turned in his seat, facing his now-grinning brother. "_You didn't._"

"Didn't what?"

"I dunno about Prince Pinecone here, but you can't be gay."

Riku waved a hand from side to side, warding off strange ideas. "You completely over-reacted, you psycho. We _talked_, that's all."

The psyched-up blond calmed down almost immediately. "Oh, that's okay then." He shook his head. "Well, as long as Sora thinks you're an okay guy, then I guess I can live with it. So, wanna join our little gang?"

Riku nodded, beaming. Finally, things were going his way!

* * *

Lunch hour came around once more. Sora, Roxas, Riku, Axel and Demyx had once again snagged a table to themselves, the sixth seat occupied by a smirking Larxene. Axel spent the time between glaring at Riku and watching his girlfriend warily. He may have liked her, but he certainly wasn't into the whole zapping thing. "So... Tell me again why _he_ is here with us?" Axel said harshly, waving his salad roll in the prince's general direction.

"That's easy. He's my friend, Axel. And if you don't like it, then tough cookies," Sora stated heatedly.

Axel raised his hands, warding off the angry brunet. "Sorry, man! I just got the impression that you believed this guy had a pinecone shoved up his-"

"Well he does, but occasionally he manages to get rid of it," Roxas quipped.

Riku glared at the blond boy. Then, deciding the only member of the fairer sex at the table was infinitely more interesting than the abusive blond, he turned to examine her. "Um... we haven't met, have we?" He said timidly, as if afraid of being rejected. Sora found himself wanting to squeeze the boy's hand in comfort.

"No, no we haven't. If I told you I was Sora's sister, would you believe me?" she asked him, smiling at the prince's shyness.

"If you had anything to do with the tasers in his doorframe, then yes. I would believe you."

Larxene grinned at Sora. "He's a sharp one, he is!" Turning back to the confused Riku, she shook her head. "No, I'm not related to anyone on this table. The only real reason I'm around is to keep the peace in this bunch of rascals."

"Which she does admirably," Demyx said happily. He suddenly jumped. "Larxene, that wasn't very nice!" he whined.

Eventually the conversation turned back to Riku and his place at the table. "Well, as long as you're gonna hang out with us, pick a job," Axel told him bluntly.

Riku cocked his head to one side. "Job?"

Sora nodded quickly. "Yeah, a job. Roxas does the planning, I put the pieces together, Demyx does distractions, Axel burns stuff and Larxene co-ordinates. So what'll you do?"

Riku's confusion turned to surprise. "Oh, that's what this is about! Well... uh... How about..." the poor boy looked flustered.

Once more Sora came to his rescue. "Don't worry about it, you'll find a niche for yourself eventually."

_Wow, so this is what it's like to have friends? _Riku thought as he watched the group chat and laugh around the table. _I think I could come to enjoy this._

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**Author's Rambles: Heh heh, Prince Pinecone never actually answered Roxas' question... So don't worry, my faithful fans. Riku's only interaction with women shall be... who knows? **

**Niccolo: Here we go. Kindly review, or you know what'll happen.**

**Riku: Get that crazy author away from me!**

**Niccolo: _(waves barney doll)_ Aw, come on, Riku! Barney wants some... company...**

**Riku: Please, for the love of God, REVIEW! Or... _(shudder)_ Nicky'll do it! Please, save me!**

**Niccolo: By the way, next chapter is EXTRA LONG, as long as you guys review. So now you have added incentive!  
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	4. One Week Later

**Disclaimer: I just need a bowl of cantaloupe... Heh? oh, just ignore the rambles. **

**Author's Rambles: Hey guys, here's your promised EXTRA LONG chapter! Five pages of Riku-bashing goodne-err, I mean boy love! Well, it's a while till anything 'good' happens... Ooh, warning: This chapter is a little more angsty and dramatic than humorous...**

**Thanks to NaraNeko, Destati, Puriti Chan and deadly-grace for reviewing the last chapter! **

**Ooh! reviewer No. 20 will get a prize! If I remember...  
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Chapter 4: One Week Later

A week had passed since Riku had started at Twilight High, and in the prince's mind, things had pretty much gone downhill.

But why, you ask? Riku has made good friends, he's not getting electrocuted, all the girls and not a few guys are sighing after him... Well, don't forget that Riku is the PRINCE of Radiant Garden. And now, you'll see why this is so bad for our favourite albino-haired prince.

Riku trudged along to Maths. He hated maths. Every kid does, it's built into their system. But he hated it more because neither Sora nor Roxas were in this class with him; they were in a separate maths class. And Riku _really_ hated it because _they_ were in it. 'They' were a group of year 8 sycophants who had attached themselves to him as an 'entourage.' And quite frankly, Riku had had enough of this at the castle in the Garden; it was absolutely ridiculous. One kid had nearly given himself concussion diving from his chair to catch a pencil that Riku had dropped. Another would sit in front of him and surreptitiously hold up a sheet of paper with all the answers to the questions written on it. And they _all_ followed him around, bowing and scraping constantly. Worse was they always... well, you'll see.

He sat down in his customary chair. The eight sycophants sat at each desk around him; on in front, one behind, one on either side and the other four sat at each desk on the diagonal from him. Riku stared, then grimaced. _Things have gone way too far this time!_ The psychos all had little microphones and earphones, the kind security guards wore. And they all had those stupid sunglasses on! _Hmph, _real_ security agents don't wear those... makes things too dark to see properly._ He was half-surprised that they hadn't dropped the school uniform altogether and worn full suits just to go with the stereotype. Riku groaned again and opened his textbook, hoping to appear as if he didn't care one way or the other.

Well, there was only one way to really survive this. He pulled on his regal airs, trying to look as royal as possible. Time to 'shove the pinecone back in,' as Sora would put it. Riku smiled inwardly, but kept a straight face. No good showing emotion; it broke the royal façade.

The teacher chose that moment to walk in. He scared the bejeezus out of his students, with that stupid spear of his that he carried. And the damned toothpick he chewed on! Riku had seen him spit the toothpick at flies _and hit them._ He also used it to startle students who fell asleep in his class. Cid must have a whole pack of them in his pocket somewhere. He looked more like an engineer than one of the greatest mathematical minds around.

"Zephyr, what is the meaning of that?" he drawled in his Garden-esque accent.

Riku shrugged. "You know how it is, Cid. They're like moths to a flame. Just wish they'd hurry and get burned," he muttered to himself. He could see a couple of the sycophants wince at his comment.

"Well, as long as they don't do anything stupid, I'll tolerate 'em. They just better be housetrained," Cid said, grinning. The 'security guards' winced again.

* * *

The lunch hour rolled around, right on time. It just _seemed_ like it took half a year to arrive. Riku carried his tray of food towards his customary table; the rest of them were already there, laughing and joking at something idiotic Demyx had done. "Hey guys!" Riku called out to them. Sora turned, and seeing who it was shifted over to make room. 

Just before Riku reached the table, the sycophants assembled around him. "Now really, this is too much!" he commanded haughtily. "I don't care who you people think you are, but I shall sit where I choose!"

One of the sunglass-wearing year eights shook his head. "No can do, your highness. This group is made up of well-known troublemakers. Our jobs would be forfeit if we allowed you to communicate with them," he explained.

_Jobs?_ Riku thought angrily. He opened his mouth to protest, but shut it again. He had long since learned the futility of trying to argue his way past a security guard. His guard back home, a salt-and-pepper-haired guy who always wore big red robes, had been one of the best. Auron had been his father's guardian as well, and had known the value of 'writing one's own story,' but when he believed that Riku should not do something, no amount of commanding, pleading or coercing could make him budge. Riku decided, then and there, to do something about it. He didn't want Sora or the others to get hurt in any way. So he did what he had sworn not to do. He decided to push Sora away.

Riku drew himself up to his full height, calmed his face down and let his eyes glaze slightly. "Very well, Jeeves." The guard winced. "Thank you for performing this service. Let us move to a more acceptable table then, shall we?"

As the guards led him off to a 'more acceptable table,' Riku didn't look back. He didn't want to see Sora's hurt face, Roxas' evil glare or Axel's matches. He had probably just signed a death warrant... but as long as Sora gave him a chance to explain then everything would be okay. And the upside was, none of his guards were boarders.

* * *

"How the hell could he do that?" Sora hissed angrily to himself. He had been brooding about it all day, paying no attention to any of his teachers. "The asshole... just leaving like that. He could have argued some more!" Sora kicked an offending stone that lay on the path in front of him, walking towards the lockers to get his stuff. Naturally, he had no clue as to what books he required, but at least he was trying. 

Up ahead, he caught a flash of sliver-white hair. _Riku!_ He thought, a mixture of emotions tumbling through him. He began to run, meaning to get an explanation, but out of nowhere Riku's new companions surrounded the prince. Sora skidded to a halt and turned immediately down a different path, seeing Riku did not appear to mind the guards. In fact, the bastard actually greeted them with a smile! _I should have known..._ he said, mentally kicking himself. _Prince Pinecone probably wanted to make himself feel good by consorting with us commoners. Face it, Sora. The guy's a backstabbing asshole._

* * *

Sora turned the last key to his door, stepping into his room. He shut the door, locked every lock and armed every trap, even the ones of his own invention. They had never been tested, were probably lethal in some manner or form-the dart gun almost certainly was-but Sora didn't care. If Riku killed himself getting into his room, then good riddance. 

For good measure, Sora shoved one of his still-full suitcases (he never bothered to unpack this one; it had winter stuff in) up against the door. He huddled up on his bed, leaning against the wall, hands clasped around his knees. He'd talk to the boarding master in the morning, he decided. He'd ask for a different room, hopefully in a completely separate wing of the house. Sora didn't really want to have to see Riku any more than he absolutely had to; he winced, remembering that they had phys ed. together tomorrow, and it was swordfighting. The teacher-Our favourite sullen, spiky haired blond-had made the class into pairs at their first lesson and Riku had been paired with Sora. _Just my luck._

There was a knock at the door. "Sora, you in there?" Sora didn't answer. He heard the locks being unlocked, one by one. When he found the door couldn't open, Riku spoke again. "Sora, you jerk, open the door or I'll make it open!"

Sora finally spoke. "Go away, asshole. Sleep in the corridor for all I care. You're not getting in-"

"_OPEN!"_ Riku thundered. The door banged open, knocking the suitcase flying. Riku stepped through, the raw energy crackling around him shorting out the traps. "I hate having to do that," he admitted sheepishly. "Royal ability, perk of the job." His eyes were glowing dangerously; his silver-white hair was waving around in the torrents of energy. He stepped close to Sora, who shrunk back in fear. "Now listen to me, Sora. _You don't know what I've had to go through._ I've been in Hell for most of the day. And the one thing I've had to cheer me up is knowing I could talk to you at the end of the fucking day!" he yelled. A shout from outside made him wave a hand irritably at the door, which slammed shut.

Sora bounded off the bed, glaring at the crazed royal. "So how do you think _I_ feel, huh? Been through hell, my ass! I saw you there with the security guards, talking and smilin' as if they were all good friends!"

Riku took a step back, vaguely calmer now. _No, that's not what I was smiling about!_ He thought frantically, but couldn't put it into words.

"I _remember_ lunchtime, _Prince Pinecone_. That thing was shoved so far up I'm surprised it's not coming out your mouth! A friend, hah! A _friend_ doesn't completely ignore their friend! All day, every time I've tried to speak to you you'd walk off, or let your sycophants get in the way! You're a backstabbing piece of shit!" With that, Sora stormed angrily out of the room, leaving a gaping Riku behind him.

_Whoa... I hurt him that much?_ Riku thought sadly. _Good Lord._ Riku knew that Sora was an optimist, loved having fun and valued his friends more than just about anything. _Which is why he got so angry at me. Lord knows I deserved it, after the way I acted._

* * *

Sora banged on his brother's door harshly, until Roxas swung the door open and glared at him. When he saw Sora's teary face, Roxas quickly pulled him inside. "Hey bro, what's wrong?" he asked, sitting Sora down on the bed. "What happened?" So Sora told him. Roxas wasn't in most of Sora's classes, so he hadn't seen as much as Sora had, and wasn't as cut up as Sora was. When Sora had finished speaking and was slumped there quietly, Roxas shook his head and smiled. "Heh, almost sounds like a lovers' spat," he joked. Sora glared at him. 

"You're not helping, Roxas."

"I know, I know. Sora, there's not much I can say... Why don't you go talk to sis? She might be able to help." Sis being Larxene, whom often acts the role of older sister for these two. Unless she was in a spiteful mood and had a taser on hand.

Sora shook his head. "Axel looked grumpy when he was leaving for home today. I value my skin."

Roxas shuddered. "I forgot about that, man. So phone mom?" This brought another negative from Roxas' twin. Their mother wasn't always very helpful... Besides, she'd probably be working at the moment on her latest project, rebuilding the town situated out by the Islands, which had been flattened in a hurricane.

* * *

The next day dawned bright and sunny. Sora was woken by a cheery bluebird sitting outside his window. It quickly left after he grumpily threw a pair of socks at it. When the socks didn't catch in the tree, he swore loudly. He'd have to go fetch them now. Cringing at the loud profanity, he glanced around to see if he'd woken Riku. But no, the boy was already up and gone to breakfast. Well, good riddance. The less he saw the prince the better. 

He'd speak to the boarding master this afternoon about a new room... But for now it was time to get up. He had a feeling that today would be a good day for him.

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**Author's rambles: Hey guys, Nicky here! I should explain something... Riku's strange little ability? Well, that's just how he opened the door. He'll use it again, pretty soon. **

**As an advance warning, things go to pot from here. Let's have a blast. By the way, the next chapter will be in first person. **

**Now, d'ya think you guys could review for me? I mean, unless of course you want Sora to meet a certain redhead... and I don't mean Axel. I could easily do that, and I doubt you'd like it...**


	5. Pretty Cool?

**Disclaimer: I have created a plan to buy Kingdom Hearts. It involves a bowl of cantaloupe, three cucumbers and a crocodile.**

**Author's Rambles: IMPORTANT! HEY, PAY ATTENTION HERE! **

**Look, I know you guys hate reading these... I ramble on occasionally. But look, here's why. This chapter begins in First person, Riku's POV. Then the rest is in first person, Sora's POV. I'll probably do this kind of thing occasionally, and may forget to warn you next time. **

**OKAY, CAN STOP PAYING ATTENTION IF YOU WANT.**

**Well, on the plus side, you guys should like this chapter.  
**

**And to crazed yaoi fangirl, my only reviewer at time of publication; CYF, thankyou. Your encouraging-and amusing-review helped make this chapter. Therefore, this chapter is yours. **

**The rest of you, enjoy!  
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Chapter 5: "Pretty cool?"

_Its better you hate me than feel nothing for me at all._

I woke up early today, after a night of awful dreams. Each one of them consisted of Sora's face contorted in anger, fear, hatred... I saw everything that happened yesterday, warped and twisted beyond belief. Suffice to say I woke in a cold sweat.

I couldn't bear to face the cheerful brunet when I woke up, so I slunk out of the room as quietly as I could. I showered, ate breakfast, brushed my teeth... the days felt exactly the same as they always had. The world didn't particularly care that I had pretty much completely screwed over my only good friend in the whole damned place. Sure, Axel, Demyx and Roxas (All X's... odd.) were friends, but none of them had accepted me as readily as Sora had-after we had gotten past our differences and problems.

So, here I was, off to school. Me, the backstabbing asshole that I am. _Why didn't I argue with them? Or get a teacher to ask them to stop harassing me? It'd have been so simple._ Yeah, that's me. I don't see the simple things. And hey presto, I stuff up my first friendship. Ever. And more than likely my last.

I stepped up to the school proper, and would you look at that. My security force, assembled and waiting. They moved over and surrounded me. _Right, that's it._ I led them through the buildings, not caring about the stares. Oh yeah, there were stares. They'd picked up nightsticks from somewhere. These guys really were psychos!

I stopped when I was directly behind the English block and out of sight of most people. "Right, assemble in front of me for inspection!" The guards looked surprised, but did as I told them. After all, I was _Prince_ Riku Zephyr. Gotta use the power sometimes. "Here's how it is. I don't need guards, okay? So as of this moment, consider yourselves dismissed."

While the rest of the sycophants stood around and gaped at me like fish, one of them spoke to me. "Sir, do you realise what you're ordering? We have chosen to guard you against miscreants like that acknowledged pyromaniac Axel or that prankster, Roxas. We've seen how dangerously close you get to them, your highness."

_Your highness. Yeah right. If I'm so high, why do I feel so low?_

The security guard went on; "It would be very easy for them to use you, your highness. It is dangerous for you to-" The sycophant looked surprised when my hand clamped own over his mouth.

I bent close and whispered harshly so they could just hear me. "Listen to me. You bastards destroyed my friendship. _I can protect myself_. I don't need the lackeys my mother hires to protect me. _If I ever catch you people following me again, I will kill you."_ Well, the threat was sufficient. It looked like I had guessed right about my mother, as well. I let go of the guy's mouth. As one, the group turned tail and bolted.

* * *

Well, my day has been pretty much hell from then on. It's the period straight after morning break, physics. With Mrs. Strife, no less. Our sword coach's wife-which made her enormously powerful; he listened to nobody except her- was the sweetest, kindest woman you have ever met. Except, I think she can read minds or something. She's scary that way. Sora and I were thinking of ditching physics one day; we weren't even talking about it, and she walked right up behind us, tapped us both on the shoulder and said she hoped she'd see us in class. Then she gave us her smile. I could see, then and there, why Cloud would fall in love with her. That smile... I swear, it _made_ us go to class. It's like she controlled us or something. That was scary. You know, it's that kind that melts criminals' hearts and if she added a wink, she could compel whole crowds to commit suicide and believe they were doing the right thing. You know the kind I mean? Good. Thinking about it makes me creep out. 

Anyway, back to physics. Lucky me, stuck next to Sora. I'd love to apologise, but I can't. The words stick in my throat each time I try to say them. It's probably something to do with the fact that I'm royalty. Rule one of being a Prince or a King: Never apologise for something you did. So, in other words, my cursed royal upbringing was stopping me from healing the crevasse. Jeez, I'm a real jerk, aren't I? Yeah well, it's a good thing royalty never has to win a popularity contest. Or else Old Man Hicks down the road from us, the guy who makes a living out of selling manure-he smells awful all year round-would rank higher than us. At least he's useful. I digress, once more.

"Zephyr! Pay attention in class!" Mrs. Strife's ruler slapped down on my desk, scaring the hell out of me. I jumped in my seat; Sora next to me snickered and murmured something. I looked up into her face. Even though she looked angry, her green eyes shone with mirth and she struggled to keep the frown on her face. "Really, Riku!" None of the teachers called me 'Your Highness'. I had asked them not to; Cid had only agreed after I started levitating his desk around. Those royal abilities are damn useful occasionally, you know. More trouble than they're worth, though.

The ruler slapped down on my desk again. "Riku Zephyr, please pay attention for _more than thirty seconds!_"

* * *

I walked along out of class, seeing a familiar shock of red hair approach from the right. Oh, this wasn't going to be healthy for me. Axel neatly tripped me over, landing me face first. I struggled back to my feet, nursing a throbbing nose. I didn't even spin, didn't allow the retorts on the tip of my tongue to fly and scald the pyro. I deserved a hell of a lot more than just that. What I didn't know was that I was gonna get it... 

Well, suffice to say that Biology was hell. I spent the whole time trying to dodge spitballs from Roxas. Getting angry and bored, he resorted to throwing chunks of eraser at me whenever the teacher wasn't looking. I sat quite stoically through it all. You know, I certainly wasn't looking forward to lunch...

* * *

Oh lord. I made it. I can't believe it; I survived to the final period of the day. Granted, it's P.E. which means Sora's gonna be whacking me as hard as he can with the practice sword, but hey. I managed to survive. That's all that counts. 

I stepped into the gym, already dressed in the P.E. outfit. I mutely joined the other students, all of us warming up as we awaited the last stragglers. And we waited for our teacher, as well. All I knew about our teacher was he was just a little taller than me, didn't care that I was royalty, and was a blond haired, blue eyed ex-guardian from Radiant Garden. Oh yeah, and he learned to fight from Auron. That meant-I haven't confirmed this yet-that he enjoys using blades that are easily as large as he is.

I found it quite weird that our homeroom teacher, Mr. Leonhart, had come with us to class. And he was carrying a really long case, one with a strap that went over his shoulder. I wondered what he had in there, and why he was warming up along with us. Well, Mr. Strife arrived finally. And boy, did his eyes light up to see our teacher! He nearly ran over to the taller, brown haired man. "So, whatcha doing down here, Squall?" he asked slyly.

"Me? Hmm. Maybe... d'ya wanna show your students some real swordsmanship?" Squall offered.

"What do I get out of it?" was Mr. Strife's reply.

"Well, I'll buy you a drink if you win. You buy me a drink if I win. Fair?" Hell, I could see the sparks of anticipation these two held in their eyes. No, I lie. They weren't sparks. They were fucking _bonfires._

"No, not now. Let's not scare them, Squall... how about tomorrow? I have a date with Aerith after class, so can't do it then." Mr. Leonhart slumped, but he perked up when he heard the last bit. Wow, I've never seen anyone recover that fast! Mr. Leonhart retired to one of the corners to watch the class, anxiously waiting for his turn to clash blades with Mr. Strife. All I had to look forward to was Sora, who hated me more than just about anything, if the daggers he was glaring at me were any indication. Hell, he could have melted the Rising Falls when they froze during winter with that glare. Well, it made me feel better. You see, he still felt _something_ for me. Even if it was hate.

* * *

Well, here it is. Time for POV change. From here on, you're reading' outta Sora's eyes...

* * *

_Love and hate; Two sides of the same coin._

I had not been enjoying today, you know? Every time I saw Riku, I wanted to go over to him. But each time I thought about it, I decided against it. Reminders about yesterday kept popping up. And physics and English were no fun; for the past week I'd talk to Riku, we'd crack bad jokes about whatever the teacher was talking about, or we'd discuss whatever came to mind. Quietly, of course. Except today. Today, we were both stiff and stilted, speaking to each other only when necessary. Which is actually not that often, funnily enough. I think I've said all of three words to him. And I don't even think he heard them. It was during physics, when Aerith- Mrs. Strife to everyone but the teachers-told him off. I said, really quietly, "you're an idiot."

So here I am, across the mat from him. We're each holding a small toy sword. We have minimal padding, apart from a helmet-our teacher doesn't believe in excessive padding. He says if we can't dodge it, we deserve to feel the hurt. So here we are. I glare at him from inside my helmet, and snap a blow towards his head. He coolly deflects it, sliding his blade in and along, stepping so close I can see the very light, faded freckles which cross the bridge of his nose. I can see my reflection in his glittering green eyes, eyes that a girl will one day lose herself in. I can see his nose, the shape of his lips, as they twitch into a smirk. A flick of his wrist, my blade goes flying out of my hand. A pivot, his blade is at my throat. A blink of the eyes, and he's back to the original position, ready to try again. Not a word, not a genuine smile. Not any emotion at all. _The perfect royal._

As I gauge his next move, my thoughts drift back over the day. For some reason, those sunglasses-wearing guys were following me around, generally making life hell for me. I'd be walking along, and one of them would stick their foot out. Or I'd be at my locker, and it bangs shut on my fingers. I missed morning break, as I was in the med centre with an ice-pack.

I sidestep, and Prince Riku copies me. We're circling each other slowly. He's got the upper hand today; I can't control myself properly. Normally we're dead even, possibly the best in the class, but today he's beating me thoroughly.

I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. If I want to beat him today, I'm going to have to concentrate. I tried to focus, but someone walks behind me, distracting me. I feel a practice sword jab into the back of my knees, I collapse forwards straight into Riku's sideswipe. The swipe, meant to hit me in the side, catches me in the face. Even though I'm wearing the helmet, my head still throbs. Man, it hurts!

Mr. Strife storms over from where he's standing. I lay on the ground, holding my throbbing head. Riku knelt next to me, but he didn't apologise. _Damned royalty_. I heard Mr. Strife speaking roughly to someone behind me, something about interrupting fights and potential injuries. A surreptitious sideways glance shows me a pocket with a pair of sunglasses in them. Brilliant, the security guards really have it in for me!

* * *

School was finished for the day, for me at least. I'd been told to go home early. Half an hour early. I counted myself lucky; the boarding master should have final period off, so I could talk to him about moving rooms. I grabbed my bag from my locker, shoving books at random into it. I clipped it shut and began to lumber down the path to the boarding house, when I was suddenly grabbed from behind. I felt my arm twisted cruelly up behind my back, I heard my school bag hit the floor when I dropped it from the pain. My shoulder was really beginning to hurt! I could feel it moving out of place slowly. I was shoved into the space between to buildings and spun about, shoved up against a wall. I don't like walls. They hurt. 

My assailants were four of the sycophants, all in their sunnies. Two of them had my arms pinned to the wall, while the one was standing lookout, and the last one was standing in front of me, cracking his knuckles. I winced; this was gonna really hurt. The guy swung at my stomach, hitting it with an audible thud. Despite the people pinning me, I managed to double over, gasping for breath. _I won't cry out, I won't cry out... I won't give them the satisfaction!_ I told myself. Boy, was I an idiot.

For three minutes straight, he alternated between slapping my face around, punching me in the stomach or belting my arms. After a while, he stopped and looked at my now-red face. "I can't believe it... we got fired over a piece of trash like this?"

On of the guys holding my arms snorted. "Jeez, the prince's mother won't be very happy with us if she finds out that he made friends with someone like this." I simply hung there, confused. _What? What are they talking about?_ I was brave enough to ask them... either that, or I didn't really care about the consequences.

The guy who had been pummelling me absent-mindedly slapped me across the face. "Trash shouldn't talk. Now listen to me, and listen just this once." He leaned close. I could smell his breath... It was anchovies. _My dog has anchovy breath,_ I thought dimly. "You stop hanging around Prince Riku. You cost us our job, and more than likely she's gonna kill us. All because that stupid prince believed you were his _friend_. So stop hanging around him, stop trying to talk to him. He'll forget about you, you can go on your merry way, we can get our jobs back and everyone's happy. Get it?"

_Wait... that means... Riku wasn't trying to avoid me? He didn't give up on our friendship?_

"No." The word came out of nowhere, like a bullet. All I knew was I didn't say it. I couldn't talk at the moment; my mouth was too swollen from the beating. "Tell me, why would my mother set watchdogs on me?" The beater turned, just as the one who had been acting as sentry sailed past him, hitting the ground nearby with a thud.

Then, _he_ stepped into my field of view. I swear, he looked like some kind of avenging angel. His eyes were _glowing_; his hair was flying around as if caught in blasts of wind. "You people are lucky I'm in a good mood. Go back to your kennel, dogs. And tell your master that I need nobody watching me. _I can take care of myself._" And with that, Riku tore through the security guards like a scythe through grass, just his very act of walking towards them sending the sycophants flying out of the gap with their tails between their legs.

The sudden loss of support made me collapse forwards, but Riku was quicker. He caught me, kneeling there, my head resting on his shoulder. I forced my mouth open, barely able to crack out a whisper. "You know, that was pretty cool..."

Riku simply kneeled there, hugging me gently. "Well, we all do cool things every now and then," he muttered, giving me a slight squeeze. It should have hurt, but it didn't. It just sent tingles up and down my spine. "Hey, Sora? Let's go home and get you looked after."

Looking back, I think it was that point when I realised why I hated Prince Pinec-No. Prince Riku. I hated him, because he had been indifferent to me and I so desperately wanted him to _see_ me, to notice me. But why did I do that? I found the answer, that day. I flipped over the coin. When he came after me, when he saved me from those bastards, all I could see was Riku.

Yup.

I had just gone and fallen in love with my best friend.

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**Author's rambles: Heh, do you guys have any idea just how much fun this chapter was to write? I won't be writing too many more in first person, but I just thought it was perfect for the delivery of that final line. The whole damn chapter revolved around that final line... I hope you guys all caught the drift with those weird sayings at the beginning of each POV.**

**Niccolo: Now everyone, it's our favourite time again! It's Riku Torture Time!**

**Riku: Nooooo!**

**Niccolo: Well, you guys know how to stop it! The more reviews you send in, the fewer important bits I cut off! And the better the chance that Sora doesn't kill me!**


	6. Making it all Better

**Disclaimer: The crocodile bit my arm off, so my plan to buy Kingdom Hearts failed. I shall now sacrifice the rest of the world and use _their_ hearts to make my OWN Kingdom Hearts.**

**Author's ramblings: The only way from here is onwards, right? Well, you'd be wrong. But are you wrong for this story? Read on and see, my fellow humans. And any nobodies who happen to be reading this. But the heartless can get lost.**

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Chapter 6: Making it all Better

Sora's eyes cracked open, then shut almost immediately. There seemed to be a gigantic purple _thing_ hanging over him. _Hmm, I must be in a coma. And I'm dreaming. Lovely._ He opened his eyes again, and the purple thing showed itself once more to be an eggplant. A blimmin' eggplant. I mean, what on earth was an eggplant doing superglued to his nose?

The offending vegetable moved upwards, and a face appeared behind it. Sora screamed. "AAAAHHHH! THE GIANT FACE IS EATING THE EGGPLANT!" The man harrumphed and turned away, hiding his huge bulbous nose that was unfortunate enough to have a purple birthmark splashed across it. Sora sat up with a start, his senses being restored. The man with the big nose was the school doctor; the kids never saw him, as his cure for everything was-for some bizarre reason-a toasted cheese sandwich. And the accompanying pills and injections, but hey. You don't argue when a doctor is telling you to eat 'three toasted cheese sandwiches a day, each time with one of these pills.' They're supposed to _know _this stuff. So he might have just been right.

**Author's note: He's not.**

Sora looked around his bedroom as his consciousness finally kicked into gear. _Wait a second... this isn't my room! It's the..._ "The medical centre," a voice offered. Sora turned to the source of the voice, shivers running all over his body. There, in a wicker chair reading a magazine entitled _Keys Weekly_ sat a silver-haired, green eyed boy with a slim, nicely muscled figure and the perfectly carved face to match. "Uh... who are you?" Sora asked dumbly.

The silver-haired boy dropped his magazine. The doctor muttered something about 'using a different kind of cheese' and ran from the room. The boy got up and sat on the edge of the bed, uncomfortably close to Sora. Without thinking, Sora reached out and stroked the side of the boy's head, feeling the silky softness of the boy's silver-white hair. The boy was turning a strange shade of red.

Suddenly, Sora heard a message in his brain. _Guess what? You're stroking a boy's face. That boy there is your best friend. He's also the prince of the neighbouring country, and currently you're falling for him. Ring any bells?_ Sora screamed again as his memory switched itself back on. He hurriedly pulled his hand away from Riku's face, cuddling it as if it was burnt. "So-sorry, Riku... I'm still a little dazed."

Riku smiled, even though his face tingled. He had absolutely no clue why, though. I mean, shouldn't he have been really embarrassed right now? His best friend had just been stroking the side of his face, as intimate as if they were lovers! Hell, I know I'd be embarrassed if some guy-or girl-just started doing that. Well, you and I have had a normal upbringing, most likely. Anyhoo, Riku was currently smiling. His whole body was shivering, and his hand was quivering. He slowly reached out, and did as Sora had just done-he softly caressed the younger boy's face, marvelling at the smooth skin, the small nose, the cute ears-**SLAP! **_Stop that, you bastard! Wait... did your OWN BRAIN just slap you? Yes it did. You're currently feeling up a guy, who's your best friend, who you appear to be attracted to and who just recently wanted to KILL you. Are you better now, or do I have to brain-slap you again?_ The voice threatened. Curse his shoulder angel. He had always been too violent for his own good. Something about the evil-looking sword strapped to the shoulder-angel's back (as Riku envisioned him) told him that he'd been short-changed when God had been handing them out. Riku's hand twitched away, but Sora latched on to it, pressing it back against his cheek. 'It's so warm..."

Riku was really, really confused now. On the one hand, Sora, possibly the cutest guy his age-hey, don't mock it. The schoolgirls voted last week-was currently nuzzling his hand, and it sent shocks more powerful than Larxene's tasers up his arm, filling him with their wholesome zappy goodness. And he found himself increasingly attracted to the young boy currently using his hand as a teddy bear. When Sora had left swordfighting class early, Riku had snuck out at the same time. He had seen the sycophants leave, and didn't really want to see Sora get hurt. At the time, he hadn't had any clue why he did it. Why he had been able to so easily call up the latent royal abilities, and to such an amount! But the answer had come to him in the hour or so that Sora had been unconscious. Riku had a strong internal desire to protect this innocent boy, even if it cost him their friendship. But why? Was Riku falling for this sunny boy who was nearly impossible to put down? This boy who could so easily move into someone's heart and take hold of it, to be used at his will? Well, yes. He admitted that much to himself. He was falling for his best friend.

Brilliant, just brilliant. Now his mother had even more reason to string him up by his toes. Royalty was not allowed to be this way; each had to present an heir. Little difficult this way.

And on the other hand... Yeah. His vengeful shoulder-angel. And Roxas. Oh yeah, that was a real problem. If Roxas ever found out, Riku probably wouldn't live long enough to tell his shoulder-devil to go stick his ideas where the sun don't shine. And... what if Sora simply saw him as a friend? Well, Riku would have to level with him. No more secrets. Well... less secrets. He'd tell Sora. "Uh... Sora... I, uh, didn't know you saw me this way..."

Sora let go of the hand instantly, turning a bright shade of red.. "Uh, no, no, uh, that was... your hand was warm! And it's cold, so... I definitely don't... AAAH!" Sora yelled finally, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, nearly taking out Riku in the process. He grabbed his bag and ran for the door. Riku swooped down on him, bag already over his shoulder. He grabbed Sora's shoulder, pulling him back. "Whoa, calm down. I was just joking around, okay?" He let go of Sora's shoulder, ready to grab him again in case the young boy bolted. "Now, what do you say we leave before the doctor comes back with a toasted cheese sandwich? I saw him lugging around a block of that weird blue cheese." Sora was gone again, running for his life. Riku wasn't sure what from.

* * *

Riku finally caught up to the younger boy at the door to their room. Sora simply stood there, waiting for the older boy to catch up. _Jeez... what was I thinking? Why did I catch hold of his hand? I don't love him, do I? Do I?_

_Well, let's see. Every time I stop for a moment, I wonder what he's doing, or thinking about. If he brushes against me by accident, I tingle like Larxene just attacked me, but in a good way. If that's possible. And for some reason, my cheeks are currently going redder. Is it 'cause I'm thinking about him? Oh shit. I think I DO love him... Wait... that's not good. Surely he just sees me as a friend? I mean, how could he have any feelings for me at all? For most of today I've been wanting to kill him, after all...  
_

Riku reached around Sora and pushed the door open, stepping inside. He pulled the younger boy in after him, shut the door and locked it. Finally Sora turned around and faced Riku. "Uh, Riku, why'd you do that?"

Riku walked around him slowly, until Sora was between him and the door. "So I can't run away. I get the distinct feeling you wanna beat the crap out of me, and Lord knows I deserve it."

Sora took a step towards Riku. "Don't be an idiot, Riku! You're my... friend, aren't you?" he asked, cursing his own voice for stilting in the middle.

"Yeah, but... Well, that's not all. Sora... how do I say this..." Riku scuffed a foot on the floor. "When you were... uh, warming yourself with my hand, it felt... good. Nice. I think I'm... you know..." Whatever Riku had been expecting, it wasn't Sora's smile. _Oh God, here it comes..._ he cringed, raising arms to protect his face from the expected blows. After all, that was where his father had always aimed...

Instead, he felt Sora's arms slip around him and squeeze him tightly around the middle. "Oh Lord, I was so afraid... Riku... It felt good to me as well. Riku, uh, er... I'm in love with you..." Riku smiled to himself, then suddenly stopped as Sora's words fully hit him. "Really?" he asked.

Sora grinned, stood on tip-toes and kissed the older boy lightly on the cheek, setting Riku's cheek aflame. Brief, tantalising, tingling... so simple, so chaste, yet it spoke volumes. "That answer your question?"

Suddenly Sora was up against the door, his back to it. Riku's lips were glued to his, his hands holding Sora's pinned up against the hard oak of the door. Riku was a warm weight pressing him up against the wood, his lips even warmer. Heat flowed through his body, as if his blood had been replaced with fire, and every nerve slowly began to tingle in glorious ecstasy.

Sora felt a swipe against his lips; he opened them slightly and the older boy's tongue filled his mouth, massaging his tongue against the roof of his mouth. Lord, this felt so good!

Riku was glad when Sora didn't pull back from him, that he responded enthusiastically to the kiss. _Definitely_ suitable for a first time, he thought vacantly. Very vacantly, as the world was starting to shimmer strangely, and electric thrills were coursing through him. A hot flush was emanating from his lips and spreading through his whole body, until it felt like it was on fire...

Sora's world began spinning, lights flashing across his eyes. They swirled around him, and he swore he could feel himself twirling-yet the centrifugal force only pulled them closer. He could feel his body _melting,_ only holding its shape thanks to Riku's presence. All thoughts had fled his mind; all thoughts about his homophobic brother with a pyromaniac friend; all thoughts about vengeful mothers; all thoughts, except those about Riku Zephyr.

Riku backed away slightly, panting for breath. His lips were bruised and swollen. "Does that answer yours?"

* * *

Sora was sitting on the edge of his bed, dumbly feeling his mouth. His lips were swollen slightly from being crushed up against... _Riku..._ He turned red instantly, flopping down onto his bed and burying his head into his pillow. _Did that really just happen? Am I dreaming some sick bastard's idea of a good dream? Am I going to wake up and find out that..._ Sora heard the door open quietly. He looked over at the doorway to see Roxas framed in the light from outside the passage. 

"Well, since I just saw Prince Pinecone come out of this room in one piece, I take it you two made up?" his twin asked shrewdly.

_More than made up,_ Sora thought. But he wasn't about to tell his brother _that._ "Y-yeah, we did."

Roxas poked one of Sora's legs, compelling it to move. It did, and he sat down where it had been. "So... care to explain what was going on?" And so Sora did, to the best of his ability. Leaving out what had just happened, quite naturally. He outlined what he had gathered... basically focussing around the fact that the real cause of the trouble had been the eight sycophants. Roxas was laughing at the end of it, when he finished up with Riku's attack on them. "Serves the bastards right!" Roxas stopped laughing for a bit, but he was still smiling. "Well, I still don't really like the bugger... there seems to be something _off_ about him. But, well, I won't kill him. Dunno what Axel'll do though," he added thoughtfully, grinning at the look of absolute terror on Sora's face.

'Oh, shit! That's not good! Roxas, what do we do?" Sora babbled, afraid now for his new-found love's health.

"Easy, calm down, calm down! The school uniforms are fire-retardant, remember?" The fear returned to Sora's face, this time with interest.

* * *

Riku mindlessly strolled along the halls, keeping his face passive. He resisted the urge to touch his lips; they were still sensitive, and the slightest touch made them ache and tingle. He looked up, just in time to avoid walking into a very amused blond woman. "So, the _prince_ shows his face?" Larxene said menacingly, brandishing her latest toy. Riku didn't at all like the look of it... there were far too many pointy bits on it, and he could nearly _feel_ the electricity humming through it. He smirked at the crazed girl, and tried to walk past her. She sidestepped, blocking him. "Nope. Not until you tell me just what the hell happened. Then I'll decide whether or not to electrocute you," she said threateningly.

* * *

Riku was getting sick and tired of the threats. Most everyone in the boarding house had been giving him the evil eye for the past half an hour as they passed the room that the two were in. The door was open-as it had to be if a boy and a girl were in the same room-and most anyone could see in, but nobody dared to eavesdrop. The last person to try eavesdropping on Larxene had wound up in hospital, screaming about 'some crazy bitch who had electrical bricks.' Riku was sitting in a small chair-it was really very uncomfortable-and trying to hurriedly explain things to the taser currently two inches away from his nose. He was talking as calmly as he could, but few people could talk calmly when their nose is about to get crispy-fried. "And that's what happened! Honest!" 

Larxene's grimace transformed into a smile. Riku didn't know whether to be scared or not. "So... that doesn't explain why your lips appear to have been crushed up against something. Or why mentioning that makes your face turn red. So, tell me. Just _how_ did you two make up?" At that point, Riku knew. When Larxene smiled like that, dive for cover.

"Uh, er, well... that's an interesting story..." a wave of the taser made Riku start talking. He explained what had happened in the medical centre, and was just about to start on the events of five minutes ago when she waved a hand.

"I _thought_ so! I knew something was different!" Larxene clapped her hands together happily, letting her inner yaoi fangirl crow with delight. "Aww, I'm so happy for you two!" she squealed, squeezing the life out of Riku with a gigantic bear hug. She suddenly backed off, sitting down. Her face was instantly sombre. "But, Riku. There's one problem... If Roxas finds out, he will kill you."

"What? Why... oh. He's homophobic, isn't he?" Riku asked, getting a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Well, yeah. And plus, his really good friend-who owes him several big favours-is Axel, the school's resident closet pyromaniac. Ooh... one more thing. And it's worse..."

Riku was feeling really sick now. "What, there's worse?"

Larxene nodded. "Yeah. Axel has a little sister, same age as Sora. She's had a thing for him ever since she met him. Luckily... she's at a different school than you two."

Riku's imagined tortures were interrupted by a phone call. Larxene picked up her mobile, checked the ID and flipped it open. "Hey babe, what's up?... Uh huh... WHAT? AXEL, YOU MORON, WHAT DID YOU DO? ... Oh, okay... Jeez. Is she okay? ... Oh, that's okay then. See ya tomorrow!" She flipped it shut. "That was Axel... as I'm sure you guessed. His sister's school was hit by pyros, it's burnt to the ground. Axel's sister is okay, thankfully. Nobody was seriously hurt."

Riku had a really bad feeling about this. Something bad was going to happen, he just knew it.

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**Author's Rambles: This was an entertaining chapter to write. I'm sure you can guess why. By the way, it may be a while until the next chapter comes out. I had kinda planned up to here, and then... well... possibly sometime on the weekend.  
**

**Anyhoo, it's time for me to threaten you guys into reviewing again!**

**Riku: For the love of God, put Sora down!**

**Me: No! Not unless they review!**

**Riku: Look, I'll pay you! Just don't drop him into the preschool!**

**Me: Oh no, he's slipping! Quick, review!  
**


	7. A Good Day

**I'm not putting in a disclaimer. My Kingdom Hearts is almost complete!**

**Author's rambles: Heh, well... I dunno what direction this story is gonna take. I'm sorry to the lemon-fans out there, but I'm still going to limit the number of them in my story... but one never can tell. Let's just see, huh? But... Well...**

**Now everybody, strap yourselves in and enjoy the ride.**

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Chapter 7: A Good Day

Sora woke up slowly, each sensory function coming online with the speed of a sleepy tortoise. He didn't want to pull himself out of that dreamy sensation that envelopes one on the edge of wakefulness that kept trying to tug him back down into oblivion. It was the day after he and Riku had managed to -_cough_- sort things out between them, and the two had managed to fall in love and discover that the other had done the same. So Monday had had a most pleasant ending to it, the only marring fact being Wednesday would bring a homicidal Axel. And if Sora's brother ever found out, Roxas would make Axel look like some sweet little cherub. Angry Axel was scary; angry Roxas made the Devil soil his pants.

A warm, soft hand pushed gently on Sora's shoulder. The brunet rolled over and burrowed further into his covers, trying to avoid reality altogether. The person trying to wake him only shook his head, bent down and gave him a peck on the cheek. The resulting shock that lanced through his system got everything going, quick as a flash. In other words, Sora rocketed to full wakefulness in the matter of milliseconds. He glared angrily at his boyfriend, trying to make the taller, older and laughing Riku see reason. The white-haired boy simply waved a hand. "Come on, get up. If you think I'm facing angry pyros alone, you're mistaken Sora," he admonished. Sora reluctantly got out of bed, absently scratching the back of his neck.

"Hey, why are you complaining? You're not even changed yet either!" Sora argued, turning back to his bed. A hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"You, we have fifteen minutes before breakfast starts. Get a move on." Without further ado, Riku turned around so he was facing his cupboard and tried to pull his vest off. Sora watched him for a minute or two, slowly turning red as each tug made more of the pale, silky skin appear. Close on exploding, he was about to turn around and get changed himself when he stopped and glanced at Riku's smooth back again. He stepped closer and traced a long scar that started above Riku's left hip and scythed upwards, finishing just below the ribcage. Goosebumps appeared as his finger moved along the velvety skin that edged the scar; Riku shivered under his touch. "Sora, stop that. It's quite distracting, you know."

"Hmm, that's so sad," Sora murmured.

"What's sad?"

"The rest of your body is... well, perfect. So, why do you have all these scars on your back?" Sora asked wonderingly, pointing at another scar, this time on the right. It was a circle about 4 inches across with lots of breaks in the line forming it, as if whatever had stabbed him had been jagged.

"Not now, Sora. I don't wanna tell you just yet, okay?" he replied, hints of defensiveness entering his voice.

"Okay!" Sora said brightly. "Instead, I'll do this!" He continued tracing nonsense shapes on Riku's back, gleefully enjoying the shivers and shakes that he brought forth from the older boy.

Finally, Riku got tired of this. He spun around and grabbed the younger one's wrists. "Sora, please... stop..." he petered off, staring into the cerulean eyes of the boy. _Why the hell are eyes so deep?_ He found himself wondering. He tried to break the eye lock, but was powerless to do so.

"Okay!" Sora repeated, stepping forwards and kissing him quickly on the lips. "Finally, I got to properly say good morning!" he turned around and ambled back on over to his cupboard and started the long process of getting ready for school. Riku only watched him, privately trying to work out just what the hell he had gotten himself into.

* * *

Sora and Riku eventually managed to join Roxas for breakfast, sliding into their usual seats while balancing a tray of what could be passed off as food-depending on one's definition of food. The younger twin was watching Riku warily, as if the older one would bite him. Riku only grinned at him. "Don't worry, don't worry. I'm here to stay this time," he reassured the blond. "Next time, I'll crack them over the head if they get in the way. Good enough?"

"Yeah, maybe. Only if you let us help, though," Roxas replied, an evil smirk plastered on his face. "Seriously, though... you may want to apologise to Axel ASAP. Or you won't live very long."

"Yeah, I've been warned about that several times. You, Sora, Larxene... you all seem scared of making Axel angry. Is he really that frightening?" Riku asked the blond worriedly.

"Just wait and see. He's had a day or so now to get himself worked up over it, so today's gonna be spectacular. Just... don't enter the library, okay?" Sora warned his boyfriend.

Riku was really quite afraid now.

* * *

The two boys trudged up the path from the house to the school proper; Sora, eyes gleaming with his usual amusement and mischief, while Riku was watching every shadow, jumping at every movement. "Come on, you! No-one's going to jump out and attack you!" Sora nearly shouted. He grabbed Riku's wrist and veritably tugged him along.

"S-Sora, why are you in such a rush? You've never rushed to school before!" Riku asked the brunet, confused as all hell.

"Axel phoned all of us last night! Told us that there'd be a surprise for us today in homeroom!" Sora shouted excitedly. Riku's face turned a pale shade of green. _I don't think I'm going to like this..._

* * *

Sora and Riku sat at their customary seats, way in the back of the room. Sora kept glancing out of the window, then at the door, then out the window again. He also kept fidgeting in his seat, twiddling his thumbs, and various other actions associated with excited people. "Sora, calm do-" At that moment, the door to the classroom swung open. Mr. Leonhart walked in, followed by a young girl. At about chest height on Riku, she was just shorter than Sora. Her auburn hair just touched her shoulders, and her eyes were a brilliant shade of violet. "-wn... Holy crap. Sora, is it just me or does she look scarily familiar? Sora?" Riku looked over at Sora, who was staring at the redhead girl. Sora's face was an interesting study in contrasts. His expression kept switching between fear and joy, with just a little anger thrown in for good measure. Riku shook Sora's shoulder. "Sora? Anyone home? Soraaaa. Earth to Sora, Earth to Sora, come in Sora!" Riku emphasised this point with a punch on the shoulder, eliciting a twitch from his love, but nothing else.

"Class, this here is Kairi Autumn." The girl dipped her head to the class, looking at the students. Not a few of the boys were staring, and a couple even cat-called. She blushed prettily, but soon set her eyes on our favourite brunet. Her eyes sparkled, and her mouth turned upwards into a smile which Riku could only describe as that of a cat which had just found a spilled pitcher of cream.

"I'm sure you all saw the news last night, about Twilight Girl's High burning to the ground. Kairi here was a student there, and so transferred here. The rest of the students have either been spread among the other classes or gone to other schools," Mr. Leonhart explained. "Please be nice to her. Now, Kairi," he said, turning to the girl, "Go find yourself a seat. I think there's one there, next to Yuna," he offered, pointing to a small brown-haired girl with unusual eyes. "Now, let's get on with class."

* * *

Morning break rolled around, finding Riku and Sora walking side-by-side down the corridor towards the dining hall. "Sora, why are you afraid of that new girl? Do you know her?" Riku asked his younger friend teasingly. "Why are you so afraid of a girl?"

Sora looked around quickly. "Riku, you know how you thought she looked strangely familiar?" Riku nodded, his gut twisting slightly. "Well, she's A-" A roar came from behind them. Both boys spun, Riku only just dodging a fist. He kept back-pedalling, nearly bowling over two small kids from year six. Axel kept swinging, trying to flatten the white-haired boy's nose. Sora jumped on his back, looking like a little monkey. "Calm down, psycho! Leave Riku alone!"

Axel stopped and looked over his shoulder at the brunet clinging to him. "Sora? Where'd you come from?"

Sora clambered down and stood between the two, Riku glaring at Axel over his shoulder. "Now Axel, can I trust you to not kill my... friend?"

"Wait, what? But... what about Monday?" Axel questioned, utterly confused now.

"Long story short, those guys in the sunglasses were being a pain in the rear. So, will you kill me or not?" Riku stated defiantly, pushing past Sora to stand right in front of Axel. Axel laughed and patted him on the shoulder, hard.

"Nope, no murders today!" came a voice from behind Axel. Axel stepped aside to reveal a shock of blond hair. Demyx grinned at the white-haired boy. "I knew something funny was going on on Monday. Just didn't seem right."

Riku laughed harshly at that. "Too true. That was how _royals_ are supposed to act," he muttered. "Damned royalty. They're all pains in the ass." The group all started laughing, bonds of friendship formed once more.

Axel wiped a tear out of his eyes and turned to the two secret lovers. "Say, is my sister in your class?"

Sora nodded. "Yeah. Axel, you had nothing to do with the school burning, did you?"

"Of course not!" he said indignantly. The whole effect was spoiled by Demyx nodding furiously, mouthing 'yes' behind him. The whole group cracked up again, but it felt fake to Riku. He finally knew why Sora had looked so scared. And... Why he looked scared... now?

"Brother, Sora! I found you guys!" Sora and Riku spun about, Riku nearly getting bowled over by a charging redhead. Axel leant back slightly as he was greeted by his sister, catching her before she could knock him flying.

Demyx stuck his head out from behind Axel. "He-hey, Kairi..."

"Hey Demmie! Long time no see!" Kairi laughed, ruffling the older boy's hair. "You've still got your mullet!" she giggled slightly as he shifted uncomfortably, trying to get out from under her hand.

"Hey sis. Class treating you nicely?" Axel asked, grinning as he set her down.

"Yeah, kinda," she said forlornly.

"Hey, what's with the long face?" Axel asked, concerned. He took his sister's wellbeing seriously.

"Nothing... Just, Sora's been hiding from me!" she accused, glaring at the young brunet.

"Hey, I wasn't hiding! More like I was protecting Riku from your psychotic brother!"

"Hey!" Axel shouted.

"Well, you ARE psychotic!" Demyx offered brightly.

Kairi looked at the silver-white haired teen. "You're Riku? Riku Zephyr?" Riku nodded, sighing inwardly. Whatever he had been expecting, it wasn't the slap across his face. He just stood there, shocked, staring at the now-angry redhead.

Axel grabbed her hand before she could try again. "Hey you, why are you hitting Riku?"

"Isn't he that asshole who you were going on about kil-" Axel clamped a hand over her mouth.

"That was then, this is now. He's not a bad kid, so please don't hurt him. Royalty is fragile you know," he teased, getting a punch in the arm from the prince. "So, anyway," he continued, rubbing his arm. "Why were you looking for Sora? You're possibly the only girl who would, you know-Ow! Stop doing that!" he whined, rubbing his other arm where Sora had just socked him.

Kairi was mumbling behind his hand. Suddenly, she bit it. He removed it with a yelp. "Thankyou! Anyway, as I was trying to say, you haven't invited Sora over for a weekend in a long time, so I haven't had a chance to say hi!"

Riku raised an eyebrow. Sora scratched the back of his head, grinning sheepishly at Riku. "Yeah, we've been good friends since a couple years ago, when we were at the same school. And Axel normally invites me home on the weekends... Me and Roxas go hang out there while we plan for the next week or two," he explained.

"And?" Kairi asked insistently.

"Bad luck sis, he's got eyes for another gir-OW!" he yelled, as the two boys simultaneously punched him. "Goddammit! Stop punching me!"

"Hm, Riku? Why are YOU getting upset?" Demyx inquired, showing a rare amount of insight.

"I just can't stand idiots, morons or buffoons," Riku said calmly, dodging Axel's punch. "Gotta be faster, friend. You're not even going to catch a cold, that way."

* * *

The end of the day arrived once more, and Riku felt like everything had come right in the world. He had managed to stay alive, what's more had managed to even make peace with Axel, Roxas and Demyx. The only thing that could vaguely worry him now was the redhead girl, and even that didn't dim his outlook on life in general. He had his boyfriend close by, he had a circle of friends which completely ignored his royal status, and plenty of time to enjoy both. What could possibly go wrong?

"Hey, Sora, Riku? Wanna stay over this weekend?" Axel asked them at the end of the day. Kairi was standing behind him, nodding energetically while mouthing 'yes, come!' to them.

Ah. That. Well, this weekend would be interesting.

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**Author's Rambles: Heh heh heh... Guys, next chapter is a few days hence. This one took me a while to crank out, as my brain kept giving me nuttin' but hot air. It was a bit floppish... but I'll make the next one better. Think of this as a lull, the 'calm before the storm.'**

**Till next time, folks!**

**Sora: Hey, hang on a moment! You forgot a part!**

**Nicky: Oh, right. Kairi, come here for a second.**

**Kairi: Why?**

**Nicky: You and Sora shall now make out until I receive five reviews for this chapter. 'Kay?**

_**(Kairi starts cheering)**_

**Nicky: _(watching them go at it)_ It's starting to look like they may take it a few steps further, folks! Hurry and R&R! **


	8. A Weekend of Trouble 1

**Disclaimer: _(Rolls eyes)_ Nobody ever reads these anyway**

**Author's Rambles: Oh Lord, I'm a bad person. I neglected writing this for a whole week... my readers are probably sharpening their knives as I type. Well, I shall have to appease them with some wholesome Soku goodness. Oh, were you listening? Nope, I'm not giving away the goodness of the story... definitely not.**

**Goddamn internet connections... **

**So, after many long hours and strange things like tying to spell 'conclusions' with a 'j', here is chapter 7!**

**Oh, this chapter is for all of those who reviewed my last one. Thanks guys! **

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Chapter 7: A Weekend of Trouble (1)

Friday afternoon rolled around finally. School was out for the weekend, and what's more, Sora, his twin and Riku were going to spend said weekend at Axel's house causing who knows what kind of mischief. And the silver-white tressed teen was looking forward to it. The three were standing at the entrance to the boarding house, waiting for Axel and his parents to arrive to pick them up. They would have walked, but Axel had offered the lift. And like any good teenagers, they were lazy enough to accept the free ride.

There was a screech from where the house's long driveway met the road, and an SUV swung wildly into it. It came roaring up the driveway, scattering children, security guards and other cars as it went. To the driver's credit, nobody got seriously injured. One car got bumped, but that was only because it didn't move. It was the principal's shiny new Volkswagen too.

Sora slapped his face, groaning. Roxas sighed. "Why can't Mr. Autumn ever drive? His wife's a menace!"

Riku just watched the vehicle's short reign of terror. It slid to a halt in front of the boarding house, and a person who could only be described as an adult version of Kairi sedately stepped out of the SUV, calmly glancing down the road. "I didn't see that beetle," she mourned, looking over at the Volkswagen that she had bumped. "Oh well. Hey there, Sora, Roxas! How are you two? You haven't been to see us in _ages!_" she happily yelled, grabbing both boys in a huge bearhug. Riku just stared at this crazy woman who was Axel's mother. _Is that stuff hereditary?_ Presently she turned to regard the white-haired teenager. "Oh, and who's this?" she asked, her sharp, gleaming eyes looking his face over as if she expected his name to be written across his forehead.

Sora shifted. "Uh, that's Riku. So, shall we go?" he urged, making a sad attempt at directing the subject away from Riku's identity. He had no desire to create a scene.

"Yes, let's! Come on, everybody in! Axel and Gyre are at home, waiting. For some reason they didn't want to come with," she explained, jumping into the driver's seat.

* * *

Ten harrowing minutes later, after several close encounters, the black SUV pulled into a driveway that stretched for about ten metres, ending with a modest two story house surrounded by an emerald green lawn. "Well, boys, welcome to the Autumn residence," Mrs. Autumn said, parking the car in the garage. She led them through the connecting door into the house. The door entered a short corridor that ended in the living room, where Axel and Gyre-Axel and Kairi's father-waited.

"Hey, you three made it," Axel said with a sidelong glance at his mother. "I trust she didn't scare you too much?"

Sora grimaced. "I never knew SUVs could actually do half of that stuff..."

Gyre stood up with a grumble, soon explained when he picked up a crutch. His right leg was broken below the knee. When Gyre saw Riku staring, he grinned. "This is from when Alisha tried to take the car off the freeway. We found out going over the edge of the road was a bad idea."

"Isn't the freeway built on top of pylons?" Riku asked, his eyes filled with thankfulness that the experiment hadn't been repeated.

"My point exactly. So, Axel, please introduce us to this delightful young man," Gyre asked his son, emphasising it with a poke from the crutch.

Axel grimaced. "Dad, mum, this is Riku Zephyr. Riku, this is my father Gyre and my mother Alisha."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Autumn," Riku greeted, bowing slightly.

"Nice to meet you to-wait... Zephyr? As in Radiant Garden's royal family Zephyr?"

Gyre asked, his face a sickly shade of white.

Riku nodded. "Yup. That's me. Royal pain in the ass Riku, at your service."

Mrs Autumn sank into a sofa chair, her face whiter than her husband's. "Well... um... Your Highness, its goo-Ah!" she squealed, as the couch began to float.

"Please ma'am, sir, don't call me 'highness.' Riku is fine," Riku instructed, only setting the chair down once they had agreed.

"Did you know he could do that?" Axel asked Roxas, staring at the royal with wide eyes.

Roxas shook his head and swallowed. "Nope. I'm glad we never pissed him off!"

Sora smiled nonchalantly and just let his eyes roam over the living room, pretending to not be interested in the display. His eyes passed over the cabinet containing photos of Axel and Kairi as young children, over the vase containing cherry blossoms from the tree outside that had been there since Sora had known the Autumns, over the coffee table covered in magazines. He cerulean gaze strayed to the staircase just down a hallway that led up to the second storey, where the three guests would likely be sleeping for tonight and Saturday night. Just as Gyre began speaking again and the brunet turned back, there were a series of thuds behind him from the staircase. The whole group turned as one, seeing Kairi come pelting down the stairs and straight as an arrow for the end of the hallway, and the unfortunate brown-haired teen who stood there.

Axel reached out, grabbed Sora's sleeve and tugged him hard enough to send him off balance; he reflexively stepped sideways, causing the redheaded girl to fly past him, her outstretched arms going around the prince instead. Axel grinned as both of the teens involved turned a bright shade of red, Riku from embarrassment and Kairi from the same... with not a little anger at her brother thrown in. "AXEL!" she yelled. "Why did you do that?" No-one noticed the parents discreetly leaving.

Axel grinned. "You know why, little sister."

Kairi stamped her foot. "You're teasing me, I know it! Sora does NOT have a girlfriend! _He can't!_"

Sora, indignant, turned on the fired-up girl. "And why not?" he demanded.

"Because... because..." she stuttered. "Oh, I give up," she said, throwing her hands up in despair.

"Hey, I never said he had a girlfriend," Axel insisted. "You're just jumping to conclusions."

Kairi glared at him again, then the anger faded from her face. "Hey, I made brownies! Anyone want some?"

Roxas grimaced. "You didn't make them with chilli this time, did you?"

"That was an ACCIDENT! I thought the chilli powder was cocoa! It was ground really fine!" Kairi growled, a dangerous glint coming into her eyes. "You _will_ try them, Roxas Jasmine Durin. And you _will_ like them."

Axel and Riku goggled at Roxas. "Your middle name is Jasmine?" they said almost simultaneously before glancing at each other and collapsing in gales of laughter. Sora snickered, and Roxas turned red.

"You promised you wouldn't tell them, Kairi. You _promised._" He snarled.

"Well, you insulted my brownies!" she stated haughtily. Riku, who had only just climbed back to his feet, clutching his aching sides, fell to the ground again laughing.

* * *

Night time came, as it always does. It has a strange habit of following Day incessantly... a very bad habit. The five friends were all sitting on the house's roof, accessed by forcing Axel's window open to a point not supposed to be possible. But the line of possibility is easily blurred by an enterprising trickster and his best friend-who just happens to like burning stuff. Such as the chain that holds the window to a sane angle of aperture. Anyway, they were sitting out there, perched on a flat section of the roof-it was one of those funny roofs where the middle part is flat and only the edges slope. They had managed to haul a telescope out and had set it up, looking at the stars and planets in turn. The telescope was Kairi's, naturally. A telescope has magnifying lenses in it, and the Autumns wouldn't trust Axel with anything that could potentially start a fire. 

Riku stared through the telescope, looking at the rings which surrounded Saturn. "Wow... I've never seen this before!" he exclaimed, his voice filled with delight. Sora sat next to him, smiling softly. The older boy hadn't experienced much, living cooped up in the Bastion his whole life; it was great watching him see new things.

Axel snorted. "Here, I'll show you something better," he said as he elbowed the prince out of the way and pointed the 'scope at a nearby house. "There ya go," he offered.

Kairi smacked him over the back of the head. "Axel, don't be gross. That's also illegal, in case you don't know."

"Never stopped me before!" he retorted, enjoying the look of outrage which crossed Kairi's and the prince's face.

Roxas laughed. "Well, what shall we do now?"

Axel shrugged. "I got some new video games. You wanna go have a race?"

"We can take turns. Let's go!" Roxas yelled enthusiastically. The blond and the two redheads got up and clambered back in through the window-dangerous enough without holding a telescope, as they had to slide down the window slightly-before Roxas shouted up; "Hey, you two coming?"

"In a minute! Riku's never seen the stars this well before!" Sora called. Once his brother had pulled his head back inside, Sora spoke more softly; "Finally, a chance to be alone. We don't get a break, do we?"

Riku moved next to the brunet, wrapping an arm around him. The smaller boy leaned in, nestling into Riku's torso. Riku rested his head on top of Sora's, looking up into the stars. As they watched, a shooting star crossed the sky, cutting it in half with its brilliant trail. "Hey, Sora..."

"Yeah?" came the brunet's small voice, as he pulled out from under Riku's cheek and looked at him. "What is it?"

The silver-haired boy gazed into the cerulean eyes of his love. He couldn't say it; he couldn't make those beautiful eyes fill with grief. "Nothing. We... can work that out at a later stage." He leant forwards and kissed the younger boy on the nose. "Don't worry, it really is nothing," he said quietly, kissing the boy again, this time on the forehead. Then his right hand gripped Sora's chin, holding it firm as he softly, sweetly kissed the boy, enjoying the sensation of Sora's lips against his.

"I thought so," came a voice from behind them. Sora flung himself out of Riku's hold, spinning on the intruder. The prince turned and glared at the one who interrupted them as well. Axel grinned in the starlight. "I thought this might be the case," he told them, still grinning.

"Axel...? Your smile is scary," Sora said, shrinking away. He reflexively moved closer to Riku, who pressed his shoulder against him for comfort.

Axel stopped grinning. "Well, would a snarl be better? Look, I don't really care."

Riku breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, _I_ do!" came a second voice that sounded scarily like Kairi's. A woman popped her head out of the window and looked up at them; Sora and Riku spun and looked, the light revealing Mrs Autumn smiling at them evilly. She gracefully climbed up onto the flat section-she was an amateur cat burglar in her youth-and hugged Sora, then Riku. "I'm quite happy for you two, but kindly don't make out on my roof! It's bugging the neighbours," she said in an admonishing tone, but her twinkling eyes gave away her mirth.

Sora sighed. He had half-expected to be set on fire when Axel found out. This was a much preferable end, actually. "Well, please don't tell Roxas just yet..."

"Tell me what?"

Mrs Autumn glanced down at the blond head sticking out of Axel's window. "Don't tell you that they were planning on perving on the neighbours using my innocent daughter's telescope," she lied. The two boys breathed a sigh of relief.

"Come on, you two. Mom won't be very happy if you start doing weird things on her roof again. Come and see if you can beat me at Soul Calibur."

"Which one?" Riku asked, definitely interested.

"Two, naturally," Axel stated fervently. "The others are not even worth mentioning." Riku followed the redhead boy inside, leaving Sora alone with Axel's mother on the roof. He leaned back on his hands, gazing up at the stars.

"So, you really like him then, I take it." It wasn't a question. Alisha was simply stating the facts.

"Yeah. You... think less of me?" Sora asked, not really caring about the answer. He had long since resigned to having to hide his love for just this reason.

"Of course not, silly boy!" she said, playfully ruffling his hair. "I've known you since you were in about year two! You're almost like a son to me! I couldn't really care, as long as you're happy. And prepared for the consequences."

"Consequences?" Sora asked, alarmed. He was only fourteen, he hadn't put thought to the consequences of being gay.

"Sori, Sori, Sori..." she murmured, using his childhood nickname. "You'll see..."

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**Well well well... what's the matter with loving Riku, I wonder? Apart from the usual downsides... We'll just have to wait and see. It might take a while, but don't worry. The problem will solve itself-but maybe not to everyone's satisfaction...**

**Niccolo out.**

**PS: Kindly R&R or I'll neuter Sora. And then let Roxas get to him. Followed by Kairi. Followed by him being revived, and repeating. **


	9. A Weekend of Trouble 2

**Disclaimer: For a month I have plotted to take control of Squenix. Soon...**

**Author's Rambles: _(Blinks)_ Oops. I can't believe I haven't updated in _five weeks_. Jeez, sorry guys... I've been really very slack, haven't I? Ugh.**

**Ugh, and I curse my brain for the extreme suckage of it. I swear, I'll try make the next one better. But to make you guys happy, I have this chapter AND the next one, all ready to be released! **

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Chapter 9: A Weekend of Trouble (2)

"_Sori, Sori, Sori..." Alisha said. "You'll see..."_

* * *

_See? See what?_ Sora thought to himself, as he huddled there on the roof. Alisha Autumn-Kairi's and Axel's mother-had long since gone inside, leaving him out there to think all by himself. And thinking was not the brunet's strong suite. In fact, it was one activity he was not all that great at doing; thinking deep thoughts. _What consequences will I see? There's nothing wrong with it, is there? No, of course not!_ he rationalised. _Why would there be anything wrong? How can love be anything BUT right?_

Sora put no stock in the stories of the old days, where love was forbidden between those of different class. Nowadays class meant nothing except to haughty people who enjoyed looking down their noses at others. So that couldn't be it. He and Riku weren't at all related, so that wasn't it either. Just the thought of it sent shivers down his spine. And people nowadays were much more accepting of people like him than a few centuries ago, so nothing could be wrong there. Hell, there were stories written about it all the time, some girls even _liked_ those weird stories! _Except... I'm a part of one of those 'weird stories' now, aren't I?_ he thought with a bemused grin.

All in all, his brain couldn't come up with any possible 'consequences.' So what had she been talking about?

"Hey, Sora! Are you coming in or not?" a voice yelled from the window, just over the edge. Sora rolled forwards onto his knees and looked over, a grinning Axel beckoning him down. "Come on, hurry up! We're having a Soul Calibur tournament and Kairi doesn't wanna play, so we need you to even the numbers out!"

Sora nodded. "Sure, be right down," he called, edging slowly over the lip of the flattened section of roof. He gingerly made his way down the roof, sliding into the window gratefully. He really didn't like heights all that much.

He stood up, arching his back. It hurt like hell after sitting up there, hunched over in the cold like that. And without warning, pain exploded in his stomach. Sora bent forwards, over the small, hard fist that had just knocked his breath out. He toppled over, lying on the floor, curled protectively around his aching stomach. The brunet stared up at the red face and redder hair of Kairi, who stood over him glaring daggers into his face. The brunet gasped quietly for a little while longer until he found the air to speak; "What was that for, Kairi?"

Belatedly he noticed Axel and Roxas sniggering. "Sorry pal, I told her," Axel mumbled, still battling the laughter bubbling out of him. Even more belatedly, he noticed the lack of Riku. A problem quickly solved by him noticing a gasping sound from just the other side of the beanbags arrayed in front of the TV. Apparently Riku had received the same treatment.

"_Sorry pal, I told her,"_ the words finally made their way into Sora's brain matter, percolating their way through the pain and lack of oxygen. _Shit... she knows, she knows, she's gonna kill me! Oh dear Lord, let me live through this-_"How could you?!" she screeched, kicking him in the thigh, deftly hitting the infamous 'dead leg' spot. She had been defending herself from her brother's pranks for a long time now, so she knew how to cause pain very easily. "How could you even _THINK_ of using my telescope for that? The poor girls!" she yelled, kicking his other thigh. "There are _laws_ against that, you know!" she shouted, finally running out of steam.

_Axel you bastard,_ Sora thought grimly. _I'm gonna kill you._

* * *

Sora eased back into the beanbag, his eyes tracking the vengeful redheaded girl's every movement. He was treating her warily, as a rabbit treats a hawk. While she didn't seem to be angry anymore-Axel had explained the joke to her-he wouldn't put it past the girl to start hitting him again for some reason or another. Frankly, girls scared him.

A controller was roughly thrust into his hands. "Hey, d'ya think you can beat him?" Axel growled angrily, shooting a glare over his shoulder at Riku.

"Wha?" the brunet said dumbly, looking down at the controller in his hand with a blank expression. Axel groaned and smacked him over the head.

"Can you beat Riku at Soul Calibur?"

"What, you can't?" Sora said snidely. Axel loved pretending that he could beat anyone at that game; the only ones he COULD beat were Demyx and Roxas... it was quite pathetic, actually. "Your poor ego must be bruised badly..."

"Not bruised, stabbed to death by a long pointy sword," Roxas quipped. He pointed at Riku's character, who was holding a rapier. "See?"

Axel growled and pounced on Roxas, the two boys wrestling for the upper hand, the other three simply looking on in amusement.

Finally Kairi threw her hands up in annoyance and stormed off downstairs. Sora snorted and turned to his boyfriend; "So, wanna try your luck against me with your pretty-boy character?"

"What? Raphael's not a pretty-boy!" Riku protested, though not very well.

"He is too! Look at him, he's a poncy French andro dressed in Lord knows what with a flimsy little pig-sticker!" Sora teased, laughing.

**Author's Notes: Andro is slang for androgynous. Ie: Is that person a girl or a boy?**

"In fact, he reminds me a lot of you," Axel smirked, pinning Roxas underneath a beanbag.

"Well, that 'poncy French andro' kicked _your_ ass, Axel," Roxas gasped out from underneath the beanbag. "Now do you think you could move? I can't breathe."

Axel looked down, as if astonished by the fact that he was currently suffocating Roxas. "Oops, my bad." He got off the 'bag, letting the blond twin out from under it. "Sora, you better beat him."

Sora grinned. "Watch me."

* * *

Kairi came in a few minutes later, carrying a tray of brownies. "Who wants one?" she asked. There was no answer; the boys were all glued to the screen. A glance at said screen told her nothing except some weird blond guy with a rapier was being viciously assaulted by someone with a Bo staff. As she watched, the guy with the staff proceeded to trip the blond, stabbing him in the back and doing some weird, complicated manoeuvre which resulted in Riku growling and cursing softly. Kairi took a deep, calming breath. "I said, who wants one?" she asked in a dangerously sweet tone.

As one, the four boys turned to survey the door, their eyes inevitably drifting towards the pile of brownies on the flat tray in her hands. "Ooh, ooh, can I try one?" Riku said, jumping to his feet.

"He just wants to ignore the truth, ey Roxas?" Sora said sidelong to his twin.

Kairi blinked, still standing in the doorway. "Truth? Truth about what?" she asked, her blinking eyes quite big.

"That Sora has beaten him five times in a row without even getting a scratch," Axel guffawed, clambering to his feet to get a slice of chocolaty goodness. "It doesn't have chilli in it this time, does it?"

Kairi glared at her grinning brother. "None for you, you ungrateful pig!" she stated haughtily, slapping his hand away from the brown slice of heaven.

Riku took a bite of the brownie, the sensation of chocolate and caramel running riot. "Mm, they're pretty good!" he exclaimed, quickly finishing the brownie off. Kairi beamed at him.

"You're welcome, Riku! Here you go, have Axel's," she told him, offering the tray to him once more.

"If you insist," he said, sighing as if he were doing an awful duty. "Sora, do me a favour and pin him down?"

Sora grinned, knowing what his boyfriend was thinking. "Bro, gimme a hand." The twins grabbed Axel and pinned him, Roxas making sure his head couldn't move. Riku sat on his shins, dramatically taking a large bite out of the chocolate treat and grinning all the while. "Jeez, Axel, you have no idea what you're _missing!_" he exulted, his eyes going wide as he gazed at the brownie in mock awe. Axel grimaced and wriggled, trying to get out of the twin's grasp. Riku began waving the brownie under Axel's nose, just out of reach of the crazed redhead's snapping teeth. He grinned, enjoying the torment. He was probably going to pay for it later, but hey. Teasing a pyromaniac gave you little thrills, the kind only gotten from doing extremely dangerous stunts.

* * *

The five teenagers sat in a circle, the empty tray in front of them. Axel had finally managed to get his hands on a brownie which he had downed so fast one would almost expect that someone was going to try and take it away from him. As the other three boys had done that the first seven or eight times, the suspicion would have been well founded. In the end, the whole tray of brownies had been finished rather quickly; there had been no problems, chilli or otherwise. Roxas looked over at the forgotten TV, which was on the character select screen; Riku's character was still standing there, waving its rapier menacingly. "Hey Riku, can you actually fence?"

Riku scratched the back of his head, thought a moment, and nodded. "Yup. Here, I'll show you!" he stood up and searched the room, trying to find something. Suddenly he crowed and held up a box entitled _Miniature Pool Set_. He opened the box and pulled out the two miniature cues, which were made of plastic and just long enough to be a fencing foil. He tossed one of them to Roxas and leaned back slightly, holding the improvised foil in front of his face. "_En garde,_" he said by way of challenge.

Roxas leapt to his feet and snatched up the 'foil', mimicking Riku's stance before leaping at the boy, in turn swinging and stabbing wildly.

The other three calmly sat on the beanbags, watching the two boys 'fence' up and down the length of the rec room, Roxas occasionally yelping as Riku scored a hit.

"Sis, how much sugar did you put in those brownies?" Axel inquired, one eyebrow raised.

"Just a couple of cups," she murmured, watching Roxas swing wildly at Riku's silver-haired skull.

"What _else_ did you put in them?" he asked, eyebrow still attempting to join with his hairline.

"Condensed milk, flour, caramel, chocolate, cocoa, eggs, the usual..." she shrugged her shoulders. "Why?"

Sora whistled. "That explains it."

"Explains what?" Kairi demanded, thoroughly confused.

"Why those two are so hyper." The end of Roxas' cue caught Sora across his arm, raising an ugly red welt. He growled, leapt to his feet and began hitting his brother with his beanbag. The beanbag bounced of Roxas and hit Kairi, who jumped up and began hitting both of them with her beanbag.

Axel watched this all take place for a few seconds and shrugged before standing up and joining in. Riku just stood there, cue forgotten in his hand, mouth hanging open, watching as the four friends beat the stuffing out of each other with beanbags. "Meh," he reasoned. "Less painful," he muttered, scooping his new weapon up and belting Axel over the head with it.

* * *

Half an hour later, the five friends lay on the floor, gasping for air. Well, not all of them were friends. Two of them were a bit more...

"Jeesh, what did you people do in here?" Mrs. Autumn asked from the doorway, blinking at the wreckage strewn throughout the room. "Did you guys have a war or something?"

"Something... like... that," her son sputtered, sweat drenching his face. He struggled to his feet, helping Kairi to hers as well. "Come on guys... we've gotta... straighten this out."

The others dragged themselves to their feet. All of a sudden, Roxas collapsed to the floor. He lay there, snoring softly. "Wha?" Riku asked half-heartedly, his body feeling the after-effects of a sugar high.

"If you go hyper for too long... you get tired like that..." Axel mumbled before he too fell down, asleep before he hit the floor.

Mrs. Autumn tut-tutted. "Now this'll never do. Sora, Riku, Kairi? Can I ask you to help me get these two idiots to bed?"

Riku nodded. "Where are they sleeping?"

Alisha waved a hand at the rec-room. "Here. I just gotta get them onto their mattresses... But I was kinda counting on these two lugs to help me," she explained.

"Don't worry... I'll fix that," Riku offered, his hair beginning to flutter and his eyes glowing softly.

* * *

Ten minutes and a helping of telekinesis later, Riku lay down on his mattress thankfully. He had manhandled four mattresses for the boys-Kairi slept in her own room due to loud protests-and had levitated them and the two sleeping boys around until everyone was arranged to Mrs. Autumn's satisfaction. The mattresses could barely fit in the room, so they were all nearly touching. Sora lay down on the mattress next to him, sighing softly and drifting off quickly. Riku followed suit...

And was awoken seemingly a moment later by a scratching under his chin. He glanced at his watch, looking over it across Sora, who was asleep in his arms. Midnight, scarcely two hours since they had all fallen asleep from the sugar rush disappearing. Sora murmured softly in his arms and wriggled closer, burying his face into the older boy's chest. Riku slipped his arms around the sleeping boy, grateful for the dark of night to hide his glowing cheeks. He squeezed the boy lightly, kissed him on his soft, spiky head and curled around him protectively, soon falling back under Morpheus' spell.

His last thought as he entered the land of dreams was _when did we cuddle together like this?_

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**Author's Rambles: _(Looks back at story) _What the HELL was that? Jeez. Well, I've been out of practice for a good long time... Ugh. I'll try and do better next time... but I have to limit the cute moments, considering their location. Don't worry, better will come soon! So, please R&R unless you want Kairi and Sora to spend (Kairi's idea of) a fantasy night together...**

**Sora _(Worriedly)_: Nicky'll do it! I swear, please R&R!**

**Kairi: Oh, please don't! Let me have just one night with him? Pleeeease?**

**Sora: Oh dear God no... Not the whips!**

**Kairi: _(Evil grin)_**


	10. A Weekend of Trouble 3

**Disclaimer: I now no longer need to write this. I have _transcended_ you foolish mortals and am now an immortal owner of Squenix.**

**Author's Rambles: And then I woke up from a pleasant dream.**

**Sorry guys, no cliffhanger at the end of chapter 9, unfortunately. But I hope you like this one... there's a little drama, unfortunately.**

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Chapter 10: A Weekend of Trouble (3)

AKA: Problems?

Something nudged the sleeping white-haired prince in his back, just above the bottle-scar. The haze of sleep was pushed aside for but a moment before sleep reclaimed the tired boy, plummeting him back into its dark depths.

The thing came again, poking him in the back more insistently. Sleep left him once more, the haze slowly drifting out of his mind like fog dispersing on a warm day.

The nudging came a third time, forcing his senses to kick into gear. His mind stumbled into semi-wakefulness, and Riku's eyes cracked open. All he could see was brown hair. And the hairs were tickling his face, ruffling slightly with his breath. He watched it move with his breathing for a moment, trying to puzzle out why he had a huge, bushy, brown moustache. The nudging came a fourth time and he raised his head out of Sora's mop of silky brown hair, looking sleepily at a giggling Kairi and a bewildered (and mildly angry) Roxas.

"Prince, pray tell me; why are you holding onto my twin like that?" Roxas asked in a very dangerous voice, his tone clearly demanding an answer.

Sora chose that moment to wake up, his huge, liquid blue eyes flicking open. Roxas' equally blue gaze snapped to Sora, his glare burning holes in Sora's sleepy eyes.

"That looks so cute," Kairi sighed, smothering another giggle. Sora blinked twice at the bubbly girl, glanced around seemingly unaware of his surroundings-that including his location within Riku's arms-when finally his brain decided to come online.

He gazed at Riku's face wonderingly, his face one of peace and contentment. As Riku watched, that expression changed to horror and the young brunet squealed, shoving against Riku with such force that he went flying out of the older teen's arms. "Augh!"

He sat kneeling on his bed, his cheeks burning a bright crimson at being caught cuddling up to his boyfriend. _What the hell was I thinking? What on Earth happened last night?_

"Riku, bro, you still haven't explained why you two were sleeping together like that," Roxas said calmly. Riku watched the anger build on the younger twin's face, waiting for the prime moment before opening his mouth to respond.

"Ah, you see-" Sora began, but Riku cut him off. "At least that explains my weird dream," he muttered.

Roxas' icy stare ripped into him. "Do tell."

"Well, I dreamed that I had found a really, really big teddy bear," Riku laughed, scratching the back of his head. _Please buy it, please buy it..._

"I always thought you were a weird guy, Pinecone." Riku spluttered a bit at his new-found nickname, but decided not to push it. "At least you didn't try and use ME as a teddy," Roxas grumbled. Kairi laughed a little more, then an evil grin suddenly plastered her face.

Sora watched the smiling girl for a moment. "Uh... Kairi... why are you grinning like that? You're starting to scare me..."

"You three, have you noticed yet that Axel is still asleep?" Kairi asked innocently, indicating the sleeping redhead. The three boys nodded, the twin's eyes lighting up with mischief. "Well, will you guys help me wake him up?"

Riku swore that the twin's eyes simultaneously glinted. "Well... what are you two planning to do to the poor guy?"

"Riiikuuuuu, won't you help us?" Sora whined, his eyes getting large and round. Riku's heart near-melted at the sight of Sora's puppy-dog face.

"Feh, when you do that you know I can't resist," Riku grinned, waving a hand amiably at the young brunet. "So, what will _we _do?" he amended. Watching their grins falter, he sighed. "You don't have any ideas, do you? Uh, guys?" he asked, a little concerned. Their faces had gone from grins to frowns and now the three looked totally and absolutely scared out of their wits.

"Plans for what, you psychic freak?" Riku twisted, still sitting on his mattress. There behind him were two tall, broad-shouldered men dressed fully in black. The one on the left had a shock of brown hair set over a large square face with narrow eyes set behind dark sunglasses, a scar down his right cheek. The guy on the right was similarly disguised-if you could call it that-with sunglasses, but his narrow features were framed by straw-blond hair.

**Author's Note: It's just two randoms, nobody FF-related in particular.**

"Brilliant. What are you two doing off your leashes?" Riku asked in a biting, haughty voice. "And how dare you address me in that manner?"

"Riku... do you know these two?" Kairi asked in a small voice, cowering behind Roxas. "Who are they, and how did they get in?"

Riku waved at the open window, climbing to his feet. The blanket slipped off, revealing his bare torso. He heard Roxas and Kairi gasp at the scars on his back, but put it out of his mind. "They came in through the window we left open. If you leave windows and doors open, trash like this tends to get blown in."

"You had better stop talking to us like that if you know what's good for you, princeling!" the man on the right yelled, his hand diving inside his jacket. It came back out with a very businesslike gun clutched in it.

"Oh, and why's that?" Riku retorted, crossing his arms jauntily. He had a really bad feeling about today... _Great. Why are Dill and Raz here? Didn't father send them to... spy... on someone important. Why me? Garamit!_

The guy on the left (Dill) grinned sadistically. "Because, 'Prince Pinecone,' as you're so affectionately known... we have been watching you. Tuesday had a most interesting end, didn't it?" Dill said in a polite, almost cheeky tone. "I bet you can never look at that door the same way again, can you?"

Next to him, Sora gulped, turned red and jumped back to stand near his twin. Clearly he knew exactly what the two were talking about. Riku just stood there, his body quivering with rage but his face showing no emotion. _At least they're all behind me now. _"Watching me? Why were you set to that task?"

This time Raz answered. "To stop something exactly like this from occurring." He ran a hand through his blond hair. Next to him, Dill pulled an envelope out of his pocket. It was adorned with a symbol Riku knew all too well, a heart crossed by two thorny vines. The bottom tip of the heart protruded downwards slightly before splitting into three, the two sides curling around slightly. His father's personal seal. He pulled a piece of paper from the envelope and passed it to Raz, who read it aloud. "_Watch Riku. Should he show any romantic interest in any person, forcefully discourage any such activities by any means necessary. _Basically, that means," Raz said in a sweet voice, his left hand still waving the gun in Riku's general direction; "we're gonna have to kill your love life."

"What? What craziness is that?!" Riku yelled, waving a hand at the note. "Has my father gone completely bananas? Granted, the old fool hates me, but he is not stupid enough to give such an order!"

Dill shrugged. "Tall, dark brown skin, silver hair? Freaky orange eyes?"

Sora and Roxas both jumped. "_XEMNAS?_" they simultaneously shouted. "Xemnas, the crazy who got expelled for trying to blow up the school? Is your _father?_"

Riku shook his head. "Not Xemnas. Ansem. Ansem, the Sage-King of Radiant Garden is my father. And that sounds like him."

Dill shrugged again. "Then your dad gave the order. So, back to business." He gestured to Raz. "Do it, partner."

Raz's face lit up and he shoved the note away into his pocket. His left hand moved the pistol from Riku's face to pointing just behind him. "G'night, lover."

_**BANG**_

"_**AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!"**_

Kairi screamed from behind Riku. He spun, his eyes slipping to the floor. There she lay, curled up in the foetal position, a pool of blood surrounding her, leaking from a wound on her stomach. Sora and Roxas fell to their knees next to her, tears pouring from their eyes. The younger twin pulled his shirt off and began tearing at it, reducing it to ragged strips of white cloth which he balled up and pressed against the hole in the dying redhead.

Riku twisted back to face the two assassins, tears streaming down his face. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" he screamed, clenching his fists tightly. Around him, the air began to swirl and eddy, caught in the currents of power that he was drawing on. "WHAT RIGHT DO YOU HAVE TO KILL AN INNOCENT GIRL?!" he shouted, thrusting his hands at each man before him. His hands opened and closed, as if grabbing at a throat. In response, the two began choking, their throats squeezed by the royal power that was Riku's birthright. "_She did nothing to you..._" he hissed ominously. "_She had her whole life ahead of her, she has a family! DIE!_" His hands clenched tightly, choking them. Raz's face began to go blue; Dill's wasn't far behind. Dill scrabbled at his jacket, pulling out a small cloth ball. He hurled it at Riku. The small ball burst upon impact, covering Riku in a fine blue powder that clung to his skin. The power was cut off immediately, as if a tap had been inexplicably twisted shut.

Raz and Dill fell back to earth, gasping gratefully for air. "Heh... the... old fool... was right... about the... powder," Raz panted. "Now let's... go."

"_Go where?_"

Raz and Dill froze; they turned slowly, ever so slowly... behind them was a finally-awake Axel. His eyes still blinking in sleepiness, he glared unseeing at the two intruders. "I dunno who you are, but-" he sniffed. "Why can I smell blood?" He cracked his eyes open. They swivelled from Raz's gun, to Riku's tear-stained face, to the blood-stain on the carpet, to the owner of the blood. "_KAIRI!_" he shrieked, his face going as white as a sheet. He pushed through the two, running for his little sister. The door banged open; Mr. and Mrs. Autumn were standing in the doorway, yelling about all the noise so early in the morning. When they saw the prone, bleeding body of their daughter, Alisha fell to her knees sobbing, helping Roxas compress the wound. Gyre headed downstairs as fast as his leg could carry him, straight as an arrow for the phone.

Raz and Dill chose this moment to try and climb out the window; they had just leaped off the roof when Axel looked at the open window.

"If they think they're getting away, they have another thought coming."

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**Author's Rambles: By the way, to anyone who recognises 'garamit'... where did I get it from? I'd be so interested to know if anyone recognises it.**

**I thought it might be interesting to put the Heartless symbol as Riku's father's personal crest. Just in case you didn't recognise it.**


	11. Mistaken Identity

**Disclaimer: Tehe... I own Kingdom Hearts, so do I really need this?**

**Author's Rambles: Okay, I have had an inordinate number of people yelling at me for shooting Kairi. That's not fair, people. You wouldn't have liked the alternative, okay? It involved Riku getting his manly bits shot off by mistake.**

**This chapter is dedicated to all of my reviewers, and all of those who have listened to me blathering on for ten chapters now. Thankyou.**

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Chapter 11: Mistaken Identity

They were halfway across the Autumn's lawn when the first mine went off. It knocked Raz flying backwards, colliding with Dill. They both summarily collapsed to the ground, their near brush with death count up to two now. And that was a new record for these two; nearly dying twice by eight o'clock in the morning.

Unfortunately for them, the time it took them to recover gave Axel the time to get out the window and jump down the gap to the grass. Disregarding the fact that he had jumped from the second storey, he marched for the two assassins with fire in his eyes – and in his hands. He stalked down the lawn towards the now-cowering assassins, their gun lying forgotten on the second storey of the Autumn residence. "_How dare you,_" he hissed. "_That was my sister you just shot._"

**Author's Note: Yes, I (at least I hope so) spelled storey correctly. I know it's different to story, okay? One refers to house level.**

Raz's hand shot into his jacket, reaching for his gun. Unfortunately for him, he just noticed its apparent departure. Dill tried a different tactic; "Hey man, calm down! It's nothing to do with us, take it up with the king!"

Axel spat to one side. "You two are the ones who shot her. Not the king. As far as I'm concerned, the king can go fuck himself. As for you two... I'm here to send you two to hell."

* * *

Half an hour later, Kairi was in the emergency ward of the hospital, just finished treatment for serious internal bleeding. 

**Author's note: Actually... all internal bleeding is serious.**

She was unconscious, lying on a bed in the hospital ward, oxygen mask over her mouth and various electrodes positioned to monitor her status. Roxas, Sora and Riku were standing on one side, watching as the doctor withdrew the bullet and sealed the wound. "Y'know," Roxas said as the doctor left the room. Alisha and Gyre were outside, conferring quietly and hurriedly with the doctors, nurses and policemen arrayed outside the ward's door. "Pinecone, you never told us you had a thing for Kairi."

Riku winced and ran a hand through his long silver hair. "I don't, though," he murmured. "They were mistaken."

Roxas looked askance at him. "You mean they shot the wrong person?" when Riku nodded, he asked another question. "So what did they mean by Tuesday having a most interesting end?"

Behind the blond, Sora turned red. "Well... they were half right, Roxas. I do have a 'romantic interest'," Riku muttered, turning red himself. "But it's not Kairi."

Not noticing Sora's change in complexion, Roxas goggled at the prince. "Who?"

"Me," Sora whispered. "Roxas, Riku and I are... you know..."

Roxas shrugged. "Ah, so that's what this was all abou-WHAT?" He spun on his older twin. "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?" Sora ran around his twin and cowered behind Riku, positioning his boyfriend between him and his twin. Riku simply watched Roxas' face carefully, viewing the interesting amalgamation of fear, anger, disgust and... sadness? "Sora, how could you?"

Sora stood up, peering around the side of Riku, his hands holding tightly onto the older teen's muscled arms. "How could I what? Fall for Riku?"

"Yeah! How could you?"

Riku crossed his arms, leaning back slightly. "I don't really see what the problem is, Roxas. Care to explain it to me?"

Roxas' mouth gaped, opening and shutting like a fish for a while. "Uh... The problem is... It's my brother! He... he just can't be gay!"

_This is going much better than I expected,_ Sora thought. _I half expected him to be trying to kill Riku._ "And why not, hmm? Why can't I love Riku?"

Roxas grimaced and waved a hand in defeat. "Ah jeez, I don't really care anymore. I don't have the strength to argue. Just don't regret anything, bro." He shrugged and turned back to the unconscious girl on the hospital bed in front of him. The blond pulled up a seat and sat down, intently watching the girl. "Pinecone, this doesn't mean I like you any better. You better not hurt my bro, or you'll regret it."

Riku grinned and stepped closer to the young teen, using one arm to hug him around the shoulders. "Thank you, Roxas. That means a lot to me."

Roxas shook him off. "Yeah, well... Hey, who else knows?" he asked quietly.

Sora ticked them off on his fingers. "Axel, Larxene, Mrs. Autumn, you... anyone else?" he asked Riku.

"Nah, that's it. Hey look, she's waking up!" Riku pointed at the once-prone girl who was suddenly showing signs of life. As they watched, her eyes flickered a couple of times, opening and shutting rapidly. Then with a twitch and a slight groan, both eyes slowly opened, revealing her violet orbs to the world. "Hey Mr. and Mrs. Autumn, she's awake!" he cried, bringing the two anxious parents at a run, the family doctor not far behind them.

Kairi looked around at the crowd of fretful people surrounding her small bed. She blinked slowly a couple of times, before her mouth edged open into a weak grin and in a raspy voice she said; "You know, that really hurts."

The doctor coughed lightly into his hand, drawing everyone's attention. "As well it would, Miss Autumn. You don't know just how lucky you are," he said with a grin and a salute. "It was nothing short of a miracle. The shot entered just below your stomach and managed to get embedded in the thicker muscle in that section of the body, somehow missing every vital organ in that region. By all rights you should be dead or dying, Kairi."

Kairi grimaced. "If this is what being lucky feels like, I'm glad I'm not unlucky. Have... have you taken the damned thing out yet?" she questioned, still in a scratchy voice.

The doctor nodded. Yes, we have. It was tricky, but the 'damned thing' is out."

Just then a call came over the intercom; "Would Dr. Wood and Dr. Stawk please report to Emergency? I repeat, would Dr. Wood and Dr. Stawk please report to Emergency?"

Gyre turned his head to the doctor. "Who're they?"

The doctor grimaced. "Paperwork generators. Dr. Fiona Wood is a burns specialist and Dr. Harold Stawk is an orthopaedic surgeon. In other words... they've just received casualties with severe burns and critically broken bones, if they call them there personally."

The three healthy teens looked at each other. Riku smirked. "Sounds like Raz and Dill got caught, ey?"

The doctor stared as if just noticing the three. "Um, who are you three? You aren't family, are you." The second sentence was a statement, not a question.

Roxas shifted uncomfortably. "No, we're not. The brunet and I are twins, Roxas and Sora Durin. The albino guy is Riku... Pinecone." Roxas' stamp on his twin's foot kept the older one quiet, while Riku's royal upbringing resulted in not a single spark of reaction showing. "We're good friends of the family and were there when it happened."

The doctor shrugged. "Ah, that's okay then. Just as long as you aren't random people who've just walked in off the street."

The lead policeman, who had been jotting notes in his pad for the duration of the short conversation, chose that moment to enter, followed by his assistant. "Um... Mr... Pinecone, was it? Could you and the two other young 'uns with you please step outside for a moment?"

The two lovers grimaced at each other, each imagining the ensuing scene that was inevitable. But, regardless of their wishes otherwise, the three followed the man in blue out of the hospital ward, the second policeman bringing up the rear. They were led to a small conference room and sat down in the chairs, the second and as of yet silent policeman taking up a position next to the door.

"Okay, basically I would like to know what happened," the policeman asked.

Riku nodded. "Well, first thing's first. My last name isn't Pinecone. But I have a perfectly good reason for that..."

The three spent a good half an hour in that interview with the policeman, going over and over the events and facts. When the policeman mentioned the two latest entrants to the hospital – two severely burned and beaten men answering to the names of Dillan and Razen – Sora and Roxas explained Axel's excitable nature and his fierce protective instincts.

In the end, the policeman decided to not arrest Axel, as the man was clearly 'temporarily insane'.

"You see... I lost my younger brother in a similar manner, and I reacted in much the same way as your... excitable friend did. Seeing as the two would-be assassins are still alive – which is a lot more than I could say for my brother's murderer – I'll let him off this time," the policeman said, smiling wanly. "Just don't let it happen again, your highness."

So all in all, that small chapter in our lovely couple's lives had a most desirable end.

* * *

Kairi was still in hospital, and would be for the next three or four days. The doctors wanted to monitor her and make sure she didn't start bleeding internally again. 

The other four teenagers were all sitting in the downstairs lounge of the Autumn's residence – none of them could bear to go upstairs into the rec room yet. The horror of the situation was still too fresh in their minds.

"Riku, do you mind actually explaining just what they wanted?" Axel growled at the silver-haired prince. "As far as I'm concerned, a good portion of this stems right back to you."

Riku waved his hands as if warding off the vengeful pyro. "Those two are... were spies for my father. Spies and, if necessary, assassins."

"So the King wanted my sister _dead?_" the redhead yelled. His mother patted his arm, trying to calm him down. Everyone else turned to Riku to see whether or not he would explain.

"Not your sister, _per se._ He had no idea that it would be your sister who'd be targeted. At least... I hope he didn't," Riku said calmly. _I seriously hope he didn't._ "I also don't think he meant for her to get shot. Those two tend to be a little extreme in how they deal with problems."

Axel shook his head. "That's completely beside the point!" he yelled. "_Why did he do that?_"

Riku snorted. "You really wanna know why? Because my father absolutely hates me. That's why. Since I was about three, he's made my life a living hell," he murmured, staring at the cherry blossoms in the vase on the Autumn's mantelpiece. "I have no idea why. I suspect it may be... because of the royal abilities."

Gyre raised an eyebrow. "That's an interesting grudge against a three-year-old."

Riku nodded. "Well... he can't even shift a feather, since he only married into the royal family. As I can throw cars and things around, and have been doing that since I was about three, he's quite naturally hated me for it."

Gyre's other eyebrow shot up. "_Cars?_ You can move _cars?_" he stuttered, surprise entering his voice. Everyone else in the room stared at the prince, who nodded.

"Yup. And that's why he doesn't like me. I think. It's more than likely the fact that he got shown up by a three-year-old than anything else," Riku continued. "And that's why I had Auron."

"Auron? Who's that?" Roxas asked, puzzled.

"My personal guardian back at the Bastion. He likes sunglasses, sake and big blades. He's also the one who taught Mr. Strife how to fight."

Roxas nodded slowly. "That explains quite a bit."

Axel slammed the coffee table, making everyone jump. "That still doesn't explain why Kairi was shot! Why didn't he just kill you if he doesn't like you?"

Riku raised two fingers. "Two reasons; One, he's not stupid. I'm the heir, and killing me will land the country in a hell of a lot of strife. So I'm safe. Two, if I died, so would he."

Sora blinked. "Howcome?"

Riku smiled a grim smile. "Because my mother can use the royal arts as well. And while she can't quite throw a car around, she most certainly could kill _him._"

* * *

It was Saturday afternoon. By unanimous decision, the three boarders had been taken back to the boarding house a day early, as the whole air of the weekend had been spoiled completely. And our favourite couple were in their room... No, not being perverted. Jeesh. Look at the rating, people! 

He was sitting on his bed, leaning back into the corner of the wall. The young brunet he loved was nestled in the crook of his arm, a warm weight leaning against him. The warm golden light of the afternoon was spilling in the window, washing over them with a blanket of late-afternoon light.

"Hey Riku," Sora mumbled, a little drowsy from the soft light.

"Yeah?"

"What if your dad tries again?"

Riku laughed softly. "In that case, I'll protect you. Okay?" he said, kissing Sora on his nose. "I'll always protect you." He continued kissing Sora's nose and forehead.

Sora squirmed out from under Riku's lips, glaring at him. "Hey, I can protect myself! I'm not a defenceless little kitten, you know!" he retorted angrily.

Riku grinned. "I know that. But, I'll still protect you, no matter what, because you're precious to me."

This time, Sora didn't wriggle out of the way. He turned his head slightly, looking into Riku's face, the brunet's cerulean eyes softening. His lips met Riku's descending ones. At first it was soft, but then his hand slipped around to the nape of Riku's neck, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss. Riku's hand cradled the back of his head, both of them enjoying the sensation of the other's mouth against their own, little hot flushes sparking all along their bodies.

After a minute or so, Sora pulled back slightly, gasping for breath. Riku was panting slightly as well, his cheeks red from the hot fire flowing through his veins. Sora moved back slightly, tugging at the collar of his shirt. "Jeesh, a little warm in here, isn't it...?"

Riku smiled, his breath still coming a little quickly. "Yeah... But still a little to cold for my liking."

Sora spun on him, grinning. "I can fix that." He reached forwards tentatively, his hands grabbing hold of Riku's unresisting shoulders. He pulled himself forwards, kissing Riku once more, his arms slipping around the older, silver-haired teen and drawing the two ever closer together. He felt Riku's arms do likewise, slipping under his armpits, crossing over on his back and pushing against his shoulder-blades.

His lips were fervent, passionate; Riku's no less. Riku felt a small nip on his bottom lip; he opened his mouth obligingly, allowing Sora's soft, small tongue to enter his mouth. He used his own tongue to press and massage Sora's against the roof of his mouth, running his tongue up and down the underside of it, exploring the many surfaces. His heartbeat began to quicken beyond measure. Before it had been racing; now it felt like it was going to leap out of his chest and beat him to death with the force of its pounding. His blood was throbbing in his veins, causing his skin all over to redden, bringing colour to his pale complexion. The room began to swirl, his vision began to darken as he felt himself getting dizzier and dizzier.

Neither of them noticed the bell for dinner, so caught up were they in their passions...

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

**Author's Rambles: Aww... Yeah, I wanted to give you guys a sweetness bit to make up for the lack of it in the last couple of weeks. Aaaaaand... I'll let your imaginations run riot due to my last sentence.**

** Ooh, one last thing. Fiona Wood is an actual person... She was Australian of the Year a while ago, a fantastic person and she really is a burns specialist. So it just seemed right to put her in here... Raz and Dill will most likely need a nationally-renowned burns specialist, won't they?  
**

**Next: I dunno how easily I'll be able to write the next couple of chapters, since I'm about to move to Uni. It'll take a while for my new I-net connection to be set up, but... Hey, who knows? So you are warned.**

** Now, an important part in any fanfic-related diet is the threatening!**

**Niccolo: Okay guys, here's the deal. You review enough, and Kairi will begin making out with Sora... and most likely more.  
**

**Riku: Hoy! I'm gonna kill you!  
**

**Sora: But... how will that entice them to review?**

**Niccolo: 'Cause if they don't, it'll happen in _this_ story.  
**


	12. Remembering the Good Times

**No Disclaimer Necessary**

**Author's Boring Random Talk: _BLEARGH._**

**That was the sound my brain made as it spilled over my keyboard when I decided to type this next chapter. At this moment, chapter eleven has only been complete and _up_ for nearly twenty-four hours. Go figure.**

** This is a pressie for all of you, since I'm going for a while and so... enjoy! And may this sate your Soku desires for at least a week!  
**

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Chapter 12: Remembering the Good Times

Sleep was a comfortable blanket covering his mind, that one Sunday. Dreamy, drowsy sleep...

* * *

It was the day after Kairi had been shot; the day after his psychotic brother had not killed him. Sunday, a day he had all to himself to do whatever he wanted...

Sora climbed out of the bed and stretched, arching his back like a cat. His spine crackled like a machine-gun going off. He rubbed his eyes with his balled fist, cleaning out the sleep-sand. He glanced across the room at his desk, looking at the bright red digital readout of his clock. _Half past nine? That late?_ He scratched the back of his neck, shrugged and ambled his way over to his towel-rack.

The brunet shut the opaque cubicle door, hung his towel on a hook and turned on the taps. Sora waited a few seconds until the shower water was to his liking, then stood directly under the spray of hot water. A cloud of steam soon enveloped him, quickly clouding his view.

After about a minute, there was a crashing on the shower door. "Hey Sora, hurry up! Breakfast's almost finished!" Riku shouted from the other side of the barrier.

"Gimme a minute," Sora answered, rinsing the soap off his skin. He turned the shower off and grabbed his towel, drying his hair as fast as he could.

Five seconds later, he had the towel wrapped around his waist and was making the short dash back to his room to get changed. Riku watched him run, his eyes roving across the smooth, brown skin of the boy he loved. Small droplets of water rolled down the younger boy's back as he ran, disappearing into the towel as they reached Sora's waist. Riku smiled, shook his head and followed.

He stopped at the door, leaning against the frame. He stared at his bare feet, trying to work out what was wrong with them. He'd been about thirty percent more out of it than usual since yesterday, and his mind kept drifting off in random directions, like back to the events of last night... He groaned and pulled his mind back to the present, shaking his head roughly.

A hand tapped him on the shoulder. He glanced up, looking straight into Roxas' face. "Hey Pinecone, you forgot your shoes."

Riku blinked twice then glanced down at his feet, devoid of any footwear. "Ah... right. Gimme a tick." He pushed the door open and darted inside, grabbing his sandals from where he'd left them. He glanced up at Sora, who was still busy over at his haphazard (and likely hazardous) pile of clothes. "Hey Sora, hurry u-Dammit, put some pants on!" he yelled, dashing back out the room, his cheeks on fire.

Roxas smirked at the red-faced teen. "Nice to know you have some decency after all, Pinecone."

Riku groaned. "Shut up. That wasn't fair."

* * *

Sora slid into his seat at the breakfast table, staring blankly down at his tray of food... it was food, right? _These LOOK like eggs... but why are the yolks green?_ He wondered, poking the burnt sausages absently with his knife. Riku was on his right, steadfastly working his way through a stack of toast. Roxas was on Riku's far side, attempting to choke down said eggs and sausages, ignoring the fact that they smelled and tasted similar to rubber. "Hey, bro? What shall we do today?" Sora asked his twin, trying to avoid looking at his food. And the stares. Someone walked past his table and whispered something. His gaze darted across, meeting Selphie's stare. She whispered something to the girl standing next to her and pointed at him, then started giggling and blushing slightly. The girl next to her began to stare as well before grinning and moving on. Sora surreptitiously watched the girl walk over to a table and sit down before turning around, pointing at Sora and saying something to the rest of the table.

Within minutes, most of the dining room was whispering furiously. Sora swore he saw boys and girls handing or receiving money from each other, some groaning and others cheering and saying; "I told you so!" before quietening down.

"I do believe I have a wager to collect..." Larxene laughed, sliding onto the bench on the other side of the table. "Let's see... That'll be forty dollars, blondie."

'Blondie' snorted. "_I'm_ blondie? Feh. Look at your hair, you walking haystack. Besides, I believe you would owe _me_ forty dollars."

Larxene covered her hair protectively, glaring at Roxas before asking curiously; "Why?"

The young boy grinned. "Because you said he'd get a girlfriend this year. And I do believe Riku is a boy... You are, aren't you?" he asked sidelong to the quiet prince.

Riku socked him in the arm. Larxene groaned and shook her head. "Damn, I was hoping you wouldn't know." Then she smirked and slid back up the bench, stopping just in front of Sora. "Sleep well?" He cocked his head to one side, wondering what the blonde was talking about. She giggled slightly and sighed. "I'm talking about _that,_ silly!" she crowed, tapping the side of her neck. Sora's face instantly turned beet red and he clapped a hand over the side of his neck, covering the offending red mark.

"It-It's still there?" he stammered, his face getting even redder. Larxene nodded, her eyes sparkling. Without warning and completely against his wishes, his mind shot back to the night before...

_The day had been warm... not unbearably so. But that was nothing compared to that night._

_  
Sora had grabbed Riku by the shoulders and veritably pulled the two lovers together, their lips meeting in a fiery, passionate lock. An absent wave of Riku's hand had locked the door – all twenty locks – and had drawn the curtains, covering the two in darkness._

_For nearly ten minutes the two had stayed locked together like that, Sora's tongue eagerly exploring Riku's mouth, Riku's hands running up and down his spine and leaving tingles in its wake._

_Then Sora pushed against Riku slightly, tipping the older boy backwards to lie on his back, the brunet on top of him. Their lips staying together, Sora had found his one hand trapped under Riku's weight, his other mindlessly fiddling with Riku's buttons. _

_Riku has gasped slightly as he went over, and he twitched again as he felt his buttons coming undone. One, two, three, four, five... his hands eagerly slid back round and between the two lovers, tugging at the zip on Sora's shirt._

_Skin against skin, the two lay together, their mouths still joined together in the ardent expression of love. Sora's tongue retreated, allowing Riku to explore the brunet's mouth._

_Their shirts lay discarded, forgotten; their arms wrapped around each other, an ever-tightening embrace filled with the fire of passion. The world around them began to go black, hiding everything but the other from their view._

_Riku pulled back slightly –but not for lack of eagerness - and grinned at the younger boy. He panted desperately for breath, his cheeks bright red from exertion and heat, Sora's no less so. Riku heaved and flipped the two over, pinning Sora underneath his torso. "My turn," he stated. _

_He bent down, his lips seeking out Sora's neck, his soft, moist lips trailing kisses along and down it. His lips moved down Sora's chest, eliciting a soft gasp and a moan from the brunet._

_Sora lay there, staring at the roof. He felt the tingling of Riku's lips move across his chest and onto his left arm, along his arm and into the crook of his elbow. His elbow tingled like crazy now; it felt as if it were on fire! _

_The seeking lips moved on, leaving fire and ice behind them. They eagerly sought out his wrist, the soft, luscious feeling of Riku's mouth against his skin bringing forth a small mewling sound from the brown-haired teen. He had no idea that his wrist could be so... so sensitive!_

_Riku's breath tickled the palm of his left hand; without thinking, he reached forward and stroked the older teen's face, leaving sparks of fire in his wake. He pulled slightly, guiding Riku's unresisting face back up towards his own. His other arm wriggled out from under Riku's entrapping arm and trailed up the silver-haired boy's back, goosebumps appearing behind it. His left hand slid around Riku's face, caressing it slightly before gliding around to meet his other, fingers entwining around Riku's neck. He gazed up at the boy above him, using his hands to pull himself up, his lips once more meeting Riku's in a keen, avid kiss that sent sparks of ecstasy coursing throughout his body. Riku collapsed sideways, Sora pulling him closer and kissing him softly on his forehead. The green-eyed teen's hands began tracing nonsense shapes on Sora's back, causing Sora to lean back and gasp._

_Riku grinned and leaned in, his lips sealing over the side of Sora's neck, sucking and nipping slightly, ignoring Sora's sudden quickening of his breath. After a moment or so he drew back, leaving a small, round, red lovebite on his love's neck. He momentarily admired his handiwork before Sora's hands pushed against the nape of his neck, effectively pulling the two lovers together tightly, little fires igniting along the points where their skin touched. Sora crushed his already-bruised lips up against Riku's, feeling the older boy's hot breath across his face then in his mouth and along his tongue. _

_Several hours later, the two finally pulled apart, each gasping for breath and drenched in sweat. "W-wow... that was... amazing," Sora exulted, his eyes shining in the moonlight streaming in through a small gap in the curtains._

"_Glad you enjoyed it," the older boy smiled. He wriggled around slightly, laying his head on his pillow. He lay there on his side, watching the younger boy quietly. He grinned, his teeth a white bar in the darkness of the night. His watch said it was eight o'clock... They had been doing that for over four HOURS?_

_Sora slid along the bed, curling up into a ball in the protective arch of Riku's body, his head under the green-eyed boy's chin. Within seconds the boy was fast asleep, curled up like a baby. Riku smiled and buried his face in the younger boy's hair, soon falling fast asleep..._

Sora grinned back at Larxene. "Yeah, I slept well."

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**Author's Nonsensical Mutterings: I loved writing this chapter... Jeez, I can't believe I wrote nearly two pages of memory! Whoa...**

**So, did you like it? I know _I _enjoyed writing it... So please read and review!**

**Nicky: Everyone's favourite time! "Leave it to Niccolo!"**

**Random Copyright Lawyer: _(Smacks over head) _No plagiarism, please.**

**Nicky: Sorry... Okay, fine. It's Riku Torture Time! _(Theme music plays)_**

**Riku: No, not the gumdrop buttons!**

**Random Copyright Lawyer: What did I just say?**


	13. The Notebook

**Disclaimer: Psychotic assassins from dressed as Final Fantasy characters forced me to sell Square Enix or they'd take away my right to write this story...**

**Author's Ramble: Yup. I sold Squenix. That's how much you guys mean to me...**

**_(Starts crying)_ I can't believe I've put off updating this for so long! Gomen, guys! Just please don't kill me, okay?**

**Anyhoo, I've reached chapter thirteen _(Gasp)_. So I thought I might tell you a little about my inspiration. I was in a case similar to Sora's... No, it didn't go nearly as far. I boarded at an all-boys' school for a while and my roommate started off a complete asshole. But then we became fairly good friends. Funny that... English teachers always tell you to write about what you know, hmm?**

**Shadowtailmoon, thanks for the inspiration for this chapter… it was long, looooong ago.**

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Chapter 13: The Notebook

Monday. That meant the hideous, torturous ritual of younger life had to take place. It is the bane of kids everywhere and everywhen, all fear and loathe this godforsaken custom that causes undue and unnecessary pain for five sevenths of the week.

This awful satanic ritual is known by only one word; school.

It took Sora a little while to wake up. Actually, I lie. To begin waking up took a long time. But once he'd started and his nose came online, he woke up so fast that the rest of the world was surprised he didn't overshoot and fall asleep again...

_Come on Sora, time to wake up..._ his brain coaxed. _School today! What fun!_ Sora groaned in his sleep, curled up into a tight little ball. _Righto then. I'll wake you up the hard way._ Sora's nose twitched once, twice, three times. A familiar scent flooded his nasal cavity, a mix of cinnamon, crushed pine needles and the soft smell of... apples. His eyes hurtled awake, snapping the rest of his brain's functions into gear. The first thing he saw was the rumpled blue vest that Riku customarily wore while sleeping. "Eek!" he squealed, hurling himself backwards. His foot caught in the bed-sheets, tripping him and changing his trajectory into a headlong dive straight into the floor. The resulting crash reverberated throughout much of the wing of the boarding house, the grand effect of sleeping on the second floor. It also caused the silver-haired teen that had formed the curve that Sora had been curled up in to jump to full wakefulness and peer over the side of the bed. "What the hell was that?" he asked, utterly stumped. "You don't normally try and jump out of your bed like that first thing in the morning. You okay?"

A stupid question, in the poor brunet's opinion. The whole world was spinning in front of his eyes and he swore that he could see several constellations' worth of stars floating in front of him. Jeez, what had made him jump out of bed like that? Why had being so close to Riku made him jump?

Ah, maybe that was it. Yeah. Waking up in your boyfriend's bed, curled into a little ball with him shaped around you... it was still a new experience for him. It'd take him a while to get used to sleeping so close to Riku.

After a minute or two of recovery, he sat up and glared at the albino-haired boy. "Thanks for all your sympathy, jerk."

Riku smiled. "You don't mean that. Come here and I'll kiss it all better, hmm?" he said jokingly, beckoning with one hand. Sora scuttled over and sat leaning against the bed, presenting the back of his head to the boy. "I wasn't serious, you know," Riku laughed. "You're not a baby, are you?"

Sora harrumphed and rubbed his eyes. 'What time is it?"

Riku glanced across at his bedside clock. "Shiiieeet. It's already seven. C'mon, we gotta get up if we're gonna make it to roll call."

* * *

Somehow, the two lovers managed to get changed and ready, getting into the common room before half past seven, the scheduled time for morning roll-call. Unfortunately for the brunet, the school's shirt collars didn't cover up the lovebite on his neck... _Dammit, I wish I could wear a turtleneck,_ he thought wistfully. A glance around the common room showed that most of the boarders were now here. It was a small boarding community, only about sixty people, roughly half of which were girls. As makes perfect sense, the other half were guys... unless there's a third, as-yet undiscovered gender. But there isn't. Well, there could be a hermaphrodite there somewhere... Sora shook his head and glared at the people who were staring at his neck, waving a fist angrily at them. Riku just laughed and tugged at his sleeve. "Come on, idiot. That won't help anything," he laughed.

"Well it makes me feel better," Sora mumbled, sitting down on one of the benches which lined the common room for just this purpose. Riku sat on his left, reclining back against the wall, shutting his eyes. Sora glanced to his right and winced. It was Selphie, just the last person he wanted to see at this hour of the morning. Sora swallowed his pride and turned his head to face her, whispering softly; "Say, what was all that in the dining hall last night?" He had a fair idea, but he needed to know for sure.

Selphie grinned, showing off all her teeth. Sora thought vacantly that she looked rather scary like that. "We were betting on whether or not you'd get a girlfriend this year," she whispered, turning red. "And seeing as you have that lovely mark, some people made a fair bit of money last night! So, who's the lucky girl?"

Sora groaned loudly and held his head in his hands. _I can't believe it... the bastards were betting on my love life? The sickos!_ His head suddenly shot up and turned back to Selphie. "You mean nobody knows?"

Selphie shook her head. "Nope. Some people thought Yuna, others thought Larxene-" Sora snorted loudly "-while others thought it was your friend Kairi." Selphie grinned again. "So, can you tell us the answer? I want to claim some more money!"

Sora's eyebrows shot up. _They don't know about me and Riku! _Suddenly a small body shoved it's way between Selphie and Sora. Roxas' teeth were showing, as was his dreaded notebook. He glared at Selphie. "Move over, choc-top." A haughty Selphie scooted down the bench, giving Roxas the necessary room to sit properly. "Hey bro, come on! Cheer up!"

Sora turned his evil eye on his younger twin. "Tell me why I should be cheerful about being the subject of bet-layers?"

Roxas shook his head and hit his older brother with his notebook. "Who cares about that anymore? I'm talking about THIS!" He thrust the notebook under the brunet's nose. "Whaddaya think?"

Sora's mouth cracked open into a malevolent smile. "I like it."

* * *

Tuesday morning; only marginally better than Monday, since it didn't have another four days of the hated school after it. Tuesday, a very special day that year. Everyone in the boarding community loved that particular Tuesday for various reasons. Roxas and Sora had experienced the joy of it for two years in a row; the previous year it had been slated down for a Monday, the year before a Sunday. See, it was the boarding master's birthday. And on his birthday he was the happiest man alive; he would always buy huge quantities of cake and icecream for the whole house, and most anyone could get off with most anything with nary more than a scolding. Well, anything within reason. Taking the boarding master's Harley for a joyride was a big no-no, as the Durin Twins (Roxas and Sora) had learned last year. And the present they had planned this year was most certainly not even close to stealing the motorbike. They weren't _that_ silly.

At seven twenty-five, most of the doors down the girls' wing would simultaneously open as everyone headed out for roll call.

Today, like all other weekdays, the doors opened simultaneously. This caused a fairly cataclysmic chain-reaction…

Roxas and Sora looked up from their accustomed spot on one of the benches as a group of wet, bedraggled and very cross girls filed into the room and sat down, glaring at the twins. Riku whistled softly and leaned over, whispering to Sora; "What the blazes did you two do?" he asked curiously.

Roxas beamed and flipped open his notebook, handing it to the bewildered prince. Riku whistled again.

The plan was incredibly detailed, but so simple it was funny. Hanging a water balloon at head height just in front of their doorway, then pinning it to the roof with blu-tack. A second piece of string looped from the balloon to the door handle, so opening the door tugged the balloon down, causing it to swing through and hit the unfortunate door opener. Riku smiled grimly. "I'm guessing the targets were all-"

"The bettors? Yup. Just wait till you see the guys," Sora laughed, pointing at the small group of angry boys who had just entered. "We picked their locks and filled their shampoo bottles with blue dye."

Riku giggled softly as he caught sight of the boys, all of whom sported a lovely head of hair that was a brilliant shade of blue. "Is that all you're doing to them?"

Roxas shook his head, his blond hair flying and flopping around. "Nope. We've got a whole week's worth of tricks to pull on them, and they're not going to like it one bit," he hinted, his eyes shining as he gazed off into the distance, clearly envisioning the evils he was going to commit. "Oh, by the way? In homeroom… don't sit too close to any of them."

Riku cringed at the thought.

* * *

TIME: 8:45 am / Homeroom 

The guys with blue hair-there were three of them in Riku's homeroom-caused quite a stir that morning. The others – most notably the day students – were fascinated by the sudden hair-change. Mr. Leonhart wasn't too impressed. "_What is the meaning of this!"_ he yelled as soon as he caught sight of them. _"Are you people not aware of the school's policies concerning hair?"_

One of the blue-ified students waved his hands, trying to ward off the storm brewing. "Y-Yes sir, of course we are! It's just…"

"Just _what_," Mr. Leonhart hissed.

"It just turned like this!" the boy wailed.

Mr. Leonhart sighed and rested his head in his hand. "Alright, fine. Don't talk sense. _Hair doesn't just change colour all by itself._ Just get it fixed as soon as possible, okay?"

Riku glanced around, trying to work out what the twins had been planning. From the far side of the room, Roxas gave him a thumbs-up and gave a little nod, barely perceptible, towards the roof. "Just let your eyes drift up there," Sora whispered from next to him. "And don't stare."

"You've been doing this for too long, you know?" the silver-haired teen stated quietly, letting his eyes rove as if he were bored. They slowly drifted up towards the roof, alighting upon the bare ceiling. "Sora, there's nothing up there," he muttered sidelong to his lover, still examining the roof. "What's s'posed to be there?"

Sora laughed quietly. "Just wait. Oh, by the way… Axel's not in his homeroom today."

"How do you know tha-What?" A small panel on the roof, almost directly above one of the blue-haired boy's seats, suddenly lifted up and disappeared into the roof. Axel's head poked through and looked around until he met Riku's eyes. Axel's face lit up into a grin and he gave a quick thumbs-up before pointing at a different panel that was now moving too.

"Oh, neither is Demyx." Sora shoved the papers on his desk into the slot below, and beckoned Riku to do the same. "You… might wanna cover up your work too."

Demyx and Axel each pulled out a small, thick disc that looked suspiciously like fire sprinklers and stuck them to the ceiling, before grinning, waving to Sora and Roxas and replacing the ceiling tiles.

"3, 2, 1…" Sora counted. "Zero."

The sprinklers suddenly turned on, spraying the classroom and filling it with a lemony scent. Riku's eyes shot to the blue hair, which was for some bizarre reason turning a vile shade of green. "What's happening?" he questioned Sora, squinting through the hazy mist raining down on the class.

"The dye we used reacts with acid. So we used lemon juice, and look at that! The room smells good as well!"

Riku laughed harshly, wondering just what other tricks the twins might have up their sleeves. "So, why shouldn't I sit near them?" he forced out between the laughs.

"Because after being sprayed with lemon juice, the dye stinks horribly. It kinda smells like rotten meat," Sora giggled, holding his sides. He pointed at the girls who had been hit with the water bombs earlier that day. "But look at them!"

To Riku's astonishment, their faces and necks were going a bizarre shade of orange. "Same deal?" When Sora nodded, Riku shook his head, bemused. "What else do you four have planned, and how can I help?"

* * *

**TIME: 10:00 / Recess**

Riku peered round the corner. Seeing it was clear, he stepped hurriedly into it, pulling a small wagon piled high with beanbags. His lips were pulled back into a sickening grin; he was going to savour this sweet revenge. _I really don't like being the subject of gambling,_ he thought angrily. _ This'll teach them._

He came to the first victim's locker, knocking it gently to test whether or not it was locked. Finding it was, he used a small spike of his power to snap open the lock. The door creaked open, an audible shriek of protesting metal echoing down the deserted hallway. He flinched, his gaze darting around to see if anyone had appeared. The hallway was still deserted. Satisfied that he was safe, he picked up a can of starch and liberally sprayed the interior of the locker, coating most every surface. Shutting and locking the locker once more, he fiddled with the grating until it popped off.

He reached down and picked up a beanbag, unzipping the side. The albino teen hoisted it up and emptied it in through the hole where the grating had once been, filling the interior with a layer of beans that were instantly glued down by the still-drying starch. To top it off he sprayed the interior with another good helping of starch before moving on to the next person's locker, maniacally grinning all the while.

By the end of recess, all of the bettors' lockers had been given the same treatment, so the inside now looked as if it had snowed in there. Riku mentally patted himself on the back before hurrying off to replace the beanbags in the store room. According to the twins the store room was hardly ever used, so when stuff in there went walkabout nobody really noticed or cared.

Riku shoved the beanbags in the cupboard and slammed the door shut, eager to be off back to his boyfriend's side. He always seemed to feel lonely when his brunet wasn't nearby. He turned to go, just about to pelt off down the hallway to end up back at Sora's side, when he heard a shout and a yelp from around the corner behind him. Curious, he crept to the edge and looked around.

"Ow, let go of me!" a girl screamed, shoving the boy that Riku could see. The voice belonged to the fiery redheaded sister of Axel, Kairi Autumn. "Don't touch me, creep!"

The boy's hand shot across her face, and Kairi cried out in pain. "Quiet, you little bitch. No-one can hear you here. Nobody ever comes to this part of the school. Now shut up and it'll hurt a lot less."

The redhead wriggled, trying to escape the boy's grip. The boy slapped her again and thrust her backwards against the wall, causing her to cry out again.

Riku was moving before his brain could even say anything to him. Mostly all he heard was his psychotic shoulder-angel brandishing its sword and yelling at Riku to save the girl and his shoulder-devil screaming to leave them to their little rendezvous.

Riku walked right up behind the boy and tapped him on the shoulder. The boy spun about, glaring up at Riku – our silver-haired teen is really quite tall, you know – who simply smiled before punching the kid straight in the face. There was a spurt of blood as the kid's nose broke; the boy crumpled to the ground instantly. Riku might not look it, but he was reasonably strong.

"Thanks for that," Kairi stuttered, tugging her uniform straight. "Last time I ever come down this way."

"Why were you down here?" Riku asked, walking next to her as they headed back up the corridor to a more populated part of the school.

"I was following Sora!" she announced brightly, beaming at him. As he watched though, her face turned serious and she faced ahead again. "But… but I know that he doesn't like me that way… He loves you, doesn't he?"

Riku looked at her askance. "And what makes you think that?" he asked, wondering how he and Sora had slipped up.

"Well… I dunno. It's just a feeling I've got. I'm right, aren't I?" she asked loudly, grabbing his collar to force him to look at her. He could clearly see the worry in her eyes. Unable to look, he turned away and nodded. "Oh, thank goodness!"

His gaze shot back to her. "Wha?"

The redhead let go of his collar, thought for a second, then tugged it straight. She walked off, a spring in her step. "I was afraid for a second that he had fallen for someone… disreputable?"

Riku grinned and ran to catch up to her. "I'd say royalty has a certain disreputability to it, you know."

She smiled, wiping away a few tears. "Yeah, you're right. You are a bunch of stuck-up, pain-in-the-ass useless layabouts," she laughed.

"I believe the term is 'Pinecone'," Riku stated haughtily, thrusting his nose into the air in a very royal way. "At least get it right, you peasant."

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**Author's Inane Grumblings: Not a word. I'm in the middle of uni… so I am not responsible for any brain breakage that occurs. I do hope you liked it, though.**

**And now for everyone's favourite section, R.T.T.!**

**Riku: Seriously, nobody reads this part.**

**Niccolo: Good. Then nobody will know that I am going to continually stab you with various steroidal-based drugs to make your 'equipment' shrivel up into a twiggy-stick.**

**Riku: Is that what those things are made of?**

**Niccolo: They process a lot of cows at the abattoir. And they try and use as much of the cow as possible.**

**Sora _(Eating a twiggy stick; spits it out)_ : Ugh, I can't believe you tell me this NOW!**

**So, will everyone review? PLEASE? The sooner you review, the less twiggy sticks infect the market!**


	14. Letters from Home

**Disclaimer: Frankly, nobody cares.**

**Author's Inane Ramblings: I'm thinking about wrapping the story up soon… I doubt there'll be too many more chapters. Just giving you all fair warning.**

**It seems the pranks were well-received, for the most part. I enjoyed making them up, that's for sure.**

**Now: When Riku arrived, it was the first day of term three, i.e: Middle of winter.**

**Now let's have a blast, okay?**

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Chapter 14: Letters from Home

_And so time passed, our couple's love going continually tested. Mostly by annoying girls bugging Sora about his 'mysterious lady friend' since he never told them. While he madly loved Riku, he didn't want to tell anyone. It just didn't seem like the right time for that._

_The end of term was fast approaching, bringing with it two weeks of relief from the hated practice of sending children into a building for seven hours every day to have knowledge forced down their throats. It was nearly a week away… It was the weekend, the Saturday before school broke up for the spring holidays. It was that day that the letter arrived…_

The boy wriggled a little, snug and warm in his lover's embrace. The mornings were still cold, a testament to the vicious winter that had just passed. The best thing about sharing a room with the one you loved, the sleepy boy decided, was that cold mornings were bearable. He buried his face in his lover's chest, marvelling at the silky skin rubbing against his nose.

It was lovely and cosy here, the two of them wrapped up in the blankets. The two customarily slept like this now, having found it was too cold otherwise.

Sora sleepily burrowed his head out of the blankets, looking over at the clock. "Hmm… ten o'clock…" he murmured, his eyes gliding shut.

They snapped open and he sat up. "TEN?!" he yelled, practically leaping out of the bed. "Hey, Riku, c'mon! You gotta wake up, or you'll miss breakfast!"

As we all know, Sora values his food.

* * *

Sora slid into a seat next to his brother, who was busy devouring a plate of bacon and eggs. "Woge uf rafe?" Roxas said around the eggs occupying his oral orifice. Sora nodded. Roxas swallowed then gave him a sly look. "Up late last night?" he asked shrewdly, his eyes flicking between the two lovers meaningfully.

Sora glared at him. "As a matter of fact…" an evil glint entered his eye. "Yes. I can't get any sleep lately."

Roxas' mouth dropped, raining bits of bacon into his lap. They went completely unnoticed. "I… I wasn't expecting_ that_ answer," he said hurriedly. "Jeez, the mental images!" he wailed, holding his head.

Sora patted him on the back. "There, there. Sorry to spoil your hopes, but we didn't do anything. We haven't, not yet."

Riku laughed, his hand covering his mouth to stop the toast from escaping. "You know, we really need to find you a nice guy," he announced once he had finished his mouthful. "Or a girl, I suppose…" he added thoughtfully when Roxas glared at him hard enough to peel skin.

"He's got a girl back home, and she's even blonder than he is!" Sora said brightly, grinning widely. Roxas socked him on the arm, making him spill his forkful of scrambled eggs. "Dammit, Roxas! What was that for?"

"You know very well. On another note, Pinecone, you got a letter. Did you see it?"

Riku cocked his head. "A letter? No, what did it look like?" he inquired suspiciously.

"It… looked like an envelope, addressed to Prince Riku Zephyr. And the address was written in big, curvy letters," Roxas said, thinking. "Apart from that, it looked like an envelope."

Riku grimaced. "A letter from home. Lovely. I wonder what it says?"

* * *

The silver-haired teen picked up the letter cautiously, as if it would explode at any moment. "Please, please, please don't be bad," he prayed. He wedged his thumb under the envelope's flap and slid it along, breaking the seal in the process. Riku slid the letter out and unfolded it, the white parchment crackling slightly.

_Dear Riku,_

_I hope you have had an enjoyable time this term._

_As you know, it is nearing the end of the term, and you will be returning to Radiant Garden for the duration of the holidays._

Sora, reading over Riku's shoulder, winced. "I guess the lack of tact must run in the family, huh?" Riku elbowed him lightly and read on.

_If you wish, you may invite a friend to stay in the Bastion for the holidays. I look forward to meeting him._

_Someone will arrive to pick you up next Friday when school finishes. Riza and I will meet you once you arrive at the Bastion._

_Until then,_

_Mom_

Riku groaned. "I forgot about that," he said forlornly.

"What's wrong?" Sora asked curiously, his face blank as he tried to guess the problem.

"Sora, could you come with me for a while? There's… something I need to tell you."

* * *

**Author's Note: Ooh, the suspense.**

* * *

Riku led Sora out of the boarding house and up towards the school proper, headed for a large tree that sat in the middle of the courtyard. It shaded most of the courtyard with its widespread branches. Riku sat down on one of the tree's roots, bidding Sora do the same.

The boy was silent for a moment, trying to choose the right words. "Sora… You know that I am a prince, right?"

Sora nodded. "Of course I know that," he answered, puzzled.

"Well, one duty a prince has… is continuing the royal line."

Sora's head bobbed up and down slowly. "Yeah, so?" he asked, clearly not getting the full picture.

Riku sighed. "Riza is the girl my parents selected for… for me to continue the line on with."

Sora's head shook. "Still don't get what the problem is," he muttered.

Riku groaned loudly. He felt like shaking the kid by the shoulders. "How can you not understand? This letter only just reminded me of the fact. I had nearly forgotten… but Sora, we may not be able to be together."

Sora's face paled instantly. "Wha-What? You mean… Oh no…"

Riku nodded. "Oh yes. Sora, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner… I really should have, I just didn't want to make you sad," he said, trying to explain himself.

Sora's eyes brimmed with tears, he looked away. "But… but… that's just not fair…" he moaned, the tears streaking down his face. "That's just not fair!" he yelled, startling several birds into flight as he fully burst into tears. Riku's arms slipped around him, drawing him close against the older boy's chest. "That's just not fair," he insisted, his hands gripping Riku's shirt as his tears stained it. The silver-haired boy rested his head on top of Sora's, crying as well. "I know… Oh dear Gods, don't I know."

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**Author's Ending Rambles: Hmm. This was an important facet of my actual story, so I figured that I should bring it to light eventually.**

**Okay, I've run out of threats. Please, if you love cookies/pancakes/SoraXRiku, please please please review.**


	15. The Holiday Begins

**Disclaimer: _Is opus belongs volo. Si vos can agnosco is vos have nimium vicis in vestri manuum._**

**Author's Rambles: What does that mean? I'm not telling you. I will, however, tell you that my disclaimer is in Latin. I was feeling bored, I can't stand the stupid policy of saying over and over again that I do not own Kingdom Hearts and I felt like doing a bit of random insanity.**

**Onto the story: I honestly can't believe that people were crying with Sora… God, that makes me feel awful. **

**I'm glad that most people don't want this story to end, but it has to sometime. Sorry girls (And to the guys brave enough to read this… Hey, don't be ashamed. I WROTE this.)**

**Let's make some noise…**

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Chapter 15: The Holiday Begins

"Oh my God!"

Riku sleepily looked across at Sora, who was sitting next to him and gazing out the aeroplane's window. "Hmm? What's the matter?" he asked, rubbing sleep-sand from his eyes.

Sora, without turning away from the window, grabbed Riku's shoulder and pulled him across. "Is that the Bastion?" he asked excitedly, pointing out the window at a huge, imposing building that had waterfalls all around it – they couldn't be seen from up there in the sky, but Riku knew they were there.

The prince nodded, yawning. "Yup. That's Hollow Bastion, the home of Radiant Garden's ruling family." He scratched at his raven-black hair, yawning again.

Sora bounced energetically in his seat. "It's _HUGE!_"

Riku rolled his blue-gray eyes. "I know, Sora. I _live_ there, remember?" He instantly winced and glanced around the plane to make sure nobody had heard him. "I can't wait to get home… then I can wash this silly dye out and take off these blasted contacts." He moaned, scratching at his hair again.

He had to disguise himself for fairly obvious reasons; a royal should never fly on an aeroplane without some degree of protection.

Sora grimaced. "I'm glad I don't have to do that." He turned back to the window, his face pressed right up against it as he gazed out over Radiant Garden. His eyes roved over the city, marvelling at the sight of what was known as one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

As he gazed out over the evening lights of the city, his mind thought back to the Saturday before…

_It had taken all of his willpower to finally stop crying. Several times he had tried to get up and just run off, try and find a small, quiet place to curl up in and just sob for a while; Riku hadn't let him. The silver-haired boy had grabbed him around the waist and pulled the small brunet into his lap, wrapping his arms as tightly as he could around Sora._

_The two of them had quietly cried like that, linked together as intimately as was possible while still fully clothed._

**Author's Note: Bad luck, fangirls.**

_Eventually Riku had come up with a solution. But he refused to tell Sora what the solution was; he had simply said "Let's forget this whole business for now. We'll sort it all out later."_

_The two of them had silently and simultaneously decided to not even mention the topic of Riza to the other for as long as possible._

He groaned inwardly. He had forgotten that they would be meeting Riza along with Riku's mother. He put the thought out of his mind and sat back in his uncomfortable seat, waiting for the plane to hurry up and land.

* * *

Sora grabbed his hand luggage and followed the raven-haired boy off the plane, grinning inwardly. Regardless of the shadow cast over this holiday, he was staying in a castle! It was infinitely awesome to one who hadn't even left the Islands until he was ten.

They stepped off the plane and into the airport proper, making a beeline (or as close to a beeline as was possible in a stupidly crowded building) for the conveyor belt that delivered their luggage to them – provided it didn't go walkabout.

As they waited, Sora's gaze shot around constantly. Through the glass doors Sora could catch glimpses of the city, which incited feelings of wanderlust in him. What he wouldn't give for a few days to just roam around the Garden, just looking…

Riku lunged forwards and grabbed a plain, unmarked suitcase, flinging it backwards at Sora. It tumbled to a stop right at his feet, causing him to nearly fall over from shock. The silver-haired teen desperately dove again, grabbing Sora's chunky, navy blue suitcase that had a huge red ribbon threaded around the handle, flinging it back at Sora as well.

Sora sighed and stepped out of the way, pulling an old grandma with him. "Hey, careful Ri- Riri!" he yelled, hurriedly changing his last word from Riku to Riri. _Phew,_ he sighed inwardly. _This holiday is gonna be the death of me._

* * *

The two lovers walked along through the city, Riku tugging on Sora's hand urgently. Sora kept wanting to stop and gawk like a tourist; he _was _a tourist, after all. Every direction that he looked in was a new sight, whether it be the Garden's huge novelty freezer run by some reclusive billionaire to feed his ice-cream addiction, or the twisting roads that kept revealing new sights to him.

Sora glanced up at the rooftops; he swore that he saw someone darting across them. He blinked and the red-cloaked figure was gone. He sighed, grinned and squeezed Riku's hand, running a little so he was walking at the boy's side rather than behind him. The boy – who was still disguised – looked at him, startled, his blue-gray eyes going wide. His gaze darted to their linked hands and back to Sora's face. His black-framed cheeks burned a bright red and he tried to pull his hand out of Sora's grasp, muttering something about 'giving the wrong idea to the locals'. Sora grabbed his hand again, his own cheeks turning a delightful shade of red too. "Please, just for a little longer… I might lose you… Let me at least have some good memories," he said sadly.

Riku's mouth opened and closed a few times, as if he were trying to say something. He finally gave up and stared fixedly ahead, totally embarrassed at the display of affection.

They walked a bit further, dragging their suitcases behind them. Presently, Sora's glance up at the roof caught the red-cloak again. "Riku…"

"Yah?"

"There's someone following us…" Sora whimpered, retreating slightly against Riku's slim form. "He's wearing a red cloak…"

Riku grinned and stopped walking, his eyes roving the rooftops. "Come out!" he yelled. "You've been seen already, you must be getting old!" he taunted.

A man leapt down from a roof, landing before them. His red cloak was revealed to not, in fact, be a cloak. Instead it was a red _keikogi _and _hakama_,the traditional uniform of a samurai. He had a large, bulbous bottle strapped to his left hip and dark sunglasses on his face. But the most surprising thing was the obscenely big sword strapped to his back. It looked like a katana, yet it was… "Massive is the word you're looking for," Riku said sidelong to him.

The samurai grinned a mirthless grin; coupled with his shock of grey hair and the scar running through his right eye, he looked almost wolfish. "Welcome back to the Garden, your highness."

Riku grimaced. "Auron, I've told you before to not call me that. Do I have to drill it into you again?" he asked, his mouth twisting into a grin.

The strange samurai known as Auron nodded. "You've been getting slack again, haven't you? I'd love to see you try and beat me," he offered, one hand resting easily on the shaft of his massive blade.

Riku shook his head. "Not in public, Auron. Once we get back to the castle, maybe." Riku glanced at Sora, then shook his head roughly. "Before I forget, this is Auron, my guardian. Auron, this is Sora, my-"

"Boyfriend," Auron stated simply. "It's a tad obvious, boy."

Riku grimaced again. "Damn, I didn't think it would be… Just, don't tell mother, okay? I'll tell her myself when the time's right," he pleaded.

Auron laughed harshly. "It's your story, Riku. Nobody else's. And I'm no storyteller." And with that, our fledgling couple's worries were put at ease.

* * *

And were fired up again ten minutes later.

Sora and Riku wandered across the bridge that crossed the Rising Falls, Riku's face darkening with each step into a spiral of anger and misery, while Sora's was shining with boyish delight as he tried to look in every direction at once. "Hey, Riku! Why is that water going _up?_ Is it magic? Is it a machine? Or, maybe it's-"

Auron laid a firm hand on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks."Calm down, lad. Just accept that nobody knows and _calm down._ You're gawking like a country boy."

The guardian lifted his hand. Sora shook his head and pulled himself up, trying to stand straight. He followed quietly after Riku, watching the brooding prince.

Slowly it became apparent that there were two people at the end of the bridge; one was a tall, willowy lady who carried with herself an air of power, much like what Riku could pull on, yet more so. She gave off the air that she could turn mountains inside out if she so put her mind to it. Next to her was a youngish girl that looked very much like Kairi, yet instead of the brilliant red hair her head sported a long plait reaching her waist that was the colour of midnight. Sora couldn't help looking at this girl. Even though she stirred nothing within him, he could still tell that she was immensely beautiful. _This is Riza?_

The older, statelier of the two women beckoned with one delicate hand to the silver prince. "Come, son. It is good to see you again," she said, smiling with her delicate mouth.

Riku blinked at her, a tear welling in his eye. He dropped the handle of his suitcase and flew into his mother's arms, sweeping her up. "Oh, you don't know how good it is to be home!" he crowed, mentally kicking himself for showing such an outward display of affection. It was completely against his nature to be so openly affectionate. Presently he let go of his mother and turned to the young girl, smiling at her. He patted her on the head. "You're catching up to me, Za!" Indeed, she was only at chest height on him – shorter even than Sora, who was at least at shoulder height on the tall prince.

The girl growled and swatted at his hand. "Grr, you're so mean sometimes, Riku!"

The prince shook his head, smiling. He turned and beckoned Sora forwards, bringing the boy at a quick walk. "Mother, Riza, this is my friend Sora. Sora, this is my mother and Riza Helios."

Sora shifted nervously, totally unsure of how to act. Was he supposed to bow or something? Finally he mumbled 'Nice to meet you, your majesty' at his feet, his face turning red. The queen laughed, letting out a stately emission of humour. "Come now, don't be all stiff! You don't have to stand on occasion, you're here visiting our home." She smiled and tapped him on the head. He looked up, astonished at such an unqueenly act. "That's better, now I can see your face," she told him. "Come now, there's no point in standing out here. Let's all go inside, shall we?" The queen turned and began to glide down the short path back towards the castle. Riza grabbed Riku's arm and pulled him along, her face lighting up with happiness. She looped her arms around his arm and leaned in close, looking for all the world like his lover as she tried to tug him towards the castle.

Riku growled and glared at her. "Let go, Za," he said in a dangerous voice. "I've asked you before not to do that."

Reluctantly Riza let go. She stuck out her tongue at the silvered teen. "Just because I got told to by the queen doesn't mean you can be so mean about it!" she said indignantly, storming off.

* * *

The two boys were finally settled in, and Sora was off wandering around the castle, exploring as much as possible. It was his first time in such a big building, after all. Riku had sent him off, promising to come find him once he had spoken to his mother.

Riku stepped into his mother's library, knowing she'd likely be there in an armchair, reading. As he had expected, there she was, curled up with one of her 'naughty romance' novels as she called them. As he stepped up close to her, she looked up at her son and put down the novel, dog-earing the page and shutting it. He glanced across at the title and did a double-take. _I didn't know there was a novel of it,_ he thought. "Brokeback Mountain?" he asked innocently, raising an eyebrow.

His mother nodded. "Now, onto other matters… tell me about your friend, please. How you met him, what he's like… when you fell for him."

Riku stiffened at her words. _Oh shit._

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**Author's notes: Wow, this one took a while to crank out. But since I love my reviewers lots and lots, I have chosen to reward them with wholesome Soku goodness. I hope you enjoyed this chapter…**

**Now, everyone, you know the deal! _(Niccolo pulls out a hockey stick) _I am now going to smash Riku between the legs. It's a game. If I can get his balls to fly out of his mouth before I get five reviews, I win.**

**If not, you guys win and Riku's in a lot of agony.**

**Your call, folks. _(CRACK)_**


	16. All Hell

**Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah. Raise your hands if you read this part.**

**Author's Rambles: Those were the fastest five reviews I have ever received! So, Riku's… survived. Mostly.**

**I've been debating whether or not to do this as a FP or not, but I'm gonna give it a shot. If it stinks, bad luck. If it doesn't, then good.**

**And as a shout-out to you if you read this, Za. The way this chapter developed is fairly thanks to your input. So… thanks.**

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Chapter 16: All Hell

I stared dumbly at my mother, my mouth opening and shutting like a gaping fish. _Holy shit. How the hell did she find out?_ My mind yelled at me, begging for an answer where there was none. I began to gather my wits; I was going to need them all for the mental clash that was sure to take place. "H-how did you find out?" my traitorous mouth stuttered. _Way to go, hotshot. Now you really seem confident._

"I have my sources," my mother answered simply. "Just as your father has his."

I snorted. "At least you didn't try and have Sora assassinated," I offered. This was going a little better than I had expected. Hopefully.

"I thought he might do something rash like that. Nice to see he didn't succeed, at least." My mother offered, as if trying to apologise for her husband. As much as I hated the bastard, mother loved him very much – quirks and all.

I nodded. "True. Or you could have had your palace burned to the ground by one very irate boy. You might want to tell His majesty to at least go after the right person."

"_WHAT?" _my mother screamed. "You're joking, right? He targeted the wrong person?" she questioned, her voice going to a dangerous tone.

I gulped and shook my head. "No. Rather, he simply gave those two idiots free reign to watch me and 'intervene as they saw fit'. In other words, shoot some poor random girl in the stomach."

The queen sighed and put her head in her hands, massaging her temples. "Bloody fool," she muttered. She sat like that for quite a while, obviously mulling over what to do. I shifted my feet, wanting this to be over. Presently she looked up again. "Very nice, Riku. You're getting better."

I plastered an innocent look over my face. "I have no idea what you're talking about, mother," I insisted. I played this game often. I enjoyed these little mental duels we had sometimes; they were an integral part of court life, so I had plenty of practice.

"You know very well what you did. You guided me away from talking about your precious toy."

I immediately stiffened. _Toy?_ "Mother, my 'toy' has a name. Kindly use it," I said, my voice trying to find a balance between princely arrogance, respect for my family and defensiveness.

The queen arched a delicate, wispy eyebrow. "Oh, is he more than a toy, perhaps?"

My anger was bubbling. _Cool it, Riku. Don't blow your chances. _"Damn straight he is," I muttered through clenched teeth. I can't stand it when she puts on a patronising tone!

My mother began massaging her temples again. "Lovely. This is just what I need. My own son, my flesh and blood, _gay_!" she spat it like it was a curse. Perhaps it was. Her icy blue eyes pierced me. My mother was a homophobe, and I had forgotten that. Not that it would have changed much. She stood up and began pacing around the room, her eyes glinting evilly.

She picked up a small vase and lobbed it at me; I caught it deftly and placed it as far out of reach as I could. The barrage of items continued; shoes, glasses, books; anything she could get her hands on. Eventually she lashed out with her power, knocking me to the floor. I rolled and came to a halt, clambering to my feet.

"How the hell is the rest of the Garden going to react to this?" she asked me flatly. That's my mother for you. Her mind's always thinking of how something will affect the royal family's standing. I had no answer for her. Well, none that she would want to hear. She and I both knew how the people would react; violently. Radiant Garden was perhaps the largest group of homophobes on the planet, and we both knew it. "Well, there's no other solution." Ripples of fear coursed through my mind. I stilled my face, expecting the inevitable outcome. "You know it, I know it. I absolutely and totally forbid you two from being together in any way other than platonically."

I swore I heard a death knoll at that instant. My world was reeling, even though I had known it was coming. My mind raged with anger. _How dare she try to command my heart!_ It screamed. _Who does she presume to be?_

My more rational half could, unfortunately, see the logic. Part of the royal duty was continuing on the line, providing progeny to rule once I was dead and buried. And I knew there was nothing I could do. I bowed low, a look of royal serenity plastered across my face. "As your majesty commands," I said with total calm. There was nothing else I could do. If I continued to love Sora and allow him to love me back, he would most likely die.

* * *

I walked down the long corridors, my heart a heavy lump in my chest. _What do I do now?_ I thought._ I told Sora I had a plan… This'll teach me to not bluff._ I cursed a blue streak on my way back to the wing I stayed in; several of the guards stared at me, wide-eyed. Much of my colourful language I had learned by sneaking down to the guards' barracks at night when I was supposed to be asleep. I put each and every word I knew to good use, cursing everything from homophobes to my heart to my royal blood.

"Riku, is something the matter?" I looked up, my green eyes meeting the hazel ones of Riza. She was looking at me with some concern. Absently, I realised I still hadn't washed the dye out, so our hair colours were exactly the same…

I shook my head. "Yeah. Yeah, there's plenty the matter," I mumbled, trying to walk past her. She grabbed my arm. I resisted the urge to pull it loose; as much as the thought repulsed me, I had that and more to 'look forward' to as my stupid royal duty, so I may as well start getting used to having her grip my arm.

"Can you tell me what's wrong?" she asked, genuine worry in her eyes. We had known each other since we were knee height on Auron; he had kept an eye on both of us, so we were good friends if nothing else. My mind gave me an equally repulsive thought; we were almost brother and sister, we had known each other for so long. And I was supposed to marry her.

I nodded to her, my eyes blurring and threatening to leak tears. I indicated a nearby drawing room with a thrust of my chin. "Let's talk in there… we can at least have some privacy," I muttered.

Once inside the room, we each took seats across a small coffee table, watching each other. I sighed, took a deep breath and began; "Well… I don't know how to say this, but… while I was at school I… I met someone. And I… I love them," I admitted, ducking my head in shame. "But the trouble is, the one I love… cannot produce children." Well there it was. The crux of the matter. And the whole reason why ninety-five percent of Radiant Garden was homophobic. Homosexual couples have difficulty producing children, meaning their legacy cannot be carried on; the Garden is big on legacies and such, so were by extension loathing of people such as I.

Riza leaned back in her armchair, thinking. If she couldn't come up with a solution, there was none; she was a born negotiator and diplomat, able to think on her feet with alarming speed. "Jeez Riku, this is a pickle and a half," she muttered absently, her mind still pondering. I could nearly see the cogs turning over in her brain. I debated whether or not to admit to it being Sora and not a girl. On the one hand, she was my oldest friend. On the other, she was from the Garden. I sighed and decided to bite the bullet.

"Riza… the reason my love can't produce children… is because it's Sora."

Dead silence. One could have heard a hair drop, let alone a pin. The moment the name had left my lips, I had regretted it; the girl had stiffened instantly, her eyes piercing me with the most evil stare one had ever seen. It was a gamble I had had to take, and it appeared that she was going to jump in the direction that was not good for me.

She sighed, finally breaking the silence. Her hands crept up to her temples, her eyelids drooping shut. "Dammit," she finally swore. "I have absolutely no clue what to do now."

I had absolutely no desire to marry her, and she knew it. Better still, I knew that the thought of marrying me made her baulk at growing up – royal life was a bitch sometimes. So really, it was in both of our best interests to find a way around this latest problem. Finally, she sighed and stood up. "Well, I'll keep thinking on it… But, there's likely no way around this. I'm sorry, Riku," she apologised, nearly running out of the room.

And so I was left alone once more. My eyes were threatening to rain teary hell down upon my cheeks again, so I tactfully decided to head back to my rooms. If I could remember where they were.

* * *

I cracked open the door, hoping that it would be my room I saw through the gap. It was, so I sighed gratefully and pushed the door wide open and stepped inside. I kicked the door shut behind me and fell onto the bed, allowing my eyes to finally let go.

Y'know, being royalty isn't all fun and games. Sure, it's pretty cool being in charge of a whole country, but crud like this comes along and just kicks you in the balls.

I heard a knock on my door. I yelled "come in!" and sat up, facing the window. "Riku?" came Sora's voice from behind me. I stiffened. He padded across the floor and sat down on the bed beside me. "Riku, you've been crying? What's the matter?"

I turned to face him, smiling sadly. "H-how did you tell?" I asked.

Sora's eyebrow shot up. "The bedspread is damp, I could faintly hear it, you have every reason to and I like to think that I just know. So, wanna tell me what's wrong?"

I turned to face him properly, swivelling my whole body around. I sighed and began, starting with an explanation of the people of the Garden, and summing up with my previous talk with my mother. By the end of it we were both crying, desperately clutching each other for support.

I could barely finish my story, it was so difficult. _I swore I wouldn't bring tears to those eyes,_ I thought dimly. _Why can't things just go right for me?_

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**Author's Rambles: Ugh.**

**Next update may take a while, folks! But until then… see you later!**

**_Next time, on Mister Pinecone:_**

_**When Sora and Riku decide to go wandering through the Gardens, what will happen? **_

_**Riku's father comes home from talks with another country; will he find out Riku's secret?**_

_**And finally, Riza gets an eyeful! But will Sora?**_

_**It's all up to you, folks! Five reviews guarantees something! (Yes, this is a reward one and not a punishment one)**_


	17. The Grand Finale!

**Disclaimer: **_**The funny thing about summoning a True Guardian is it takes longer than a fatal mob-stabbing**__**– **_**Black Mage, 8-Bit Theatre.**

**Author's Ramblings: Hello there, my favourite audience! Welcome to the final chapter of Mister Pinecone(TM)! I hope you all enjoyed the ride… Now let's finish this and go home, so I can begin work on my next fanfiction.**

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Chapter 17: The Grand Finale!

Sora woke up late the next day, tired and grumbling. His eyes felt gritty and his throat felt dry and sore. The brunet had intended on waking up early and exploring the castle, but he had slept fitfully the night before and so had slept through his alarm, he was so tired. "Ugh…" he groaned as he clawed his way out of the covers and stumbled out of the bed. "Hey, Riku…" he muttered. His voice petered off as he realised that Riku hadn't slept here, but rather somewhere else. _That must be why I slept so badly last night…_ he thought.

He groaned and began working his way through his morning ablutions, showering and putting on clothes and the like. He ambled out of his bedroom and down the hallway, looking for somebody, _anybody_ that he recognised.

A door on his right cracked open and a small, girlish face peeped out. When he looked over at Riza's face, she gave him an incredibly sad smile and came all the way out, shutting her door quietly behind her.

They walked down the passageway in silence for some time, aiming in the general direction of Riku's bedroom. Presently, the girl stopped and grabbed Sora's shirt arm, causing him to halt. He turned back to the girl, whose head was drooping low hiding her eyes, and her shoulders were shuddering.

"P-Princess Riza?" Sora asked uncomfortably, taken aback. "W-what's wrong?" He glanced around uncomfortably, glad that the passages were empty. "Why are you crying?"

The girl's head tilted up. Sora took a step back when he saw the feverish look in her eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" she cried, tears pouring down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry," she finally mumbled, sinking to her knees.

Sora kneeled next to her. "Hey, what are you mumbling about? C'mon… please tell me what's wrong?"

Riza's arm let go of his shirt sleeve. "I'm so sorry…" she muttered, her shoulders shivering. "I don't want to take Riku away from you…" She shuddered and started crying again.

Sora was taken aback. "Wait, _what?_ Wha… how… who… what?" This was completely unexpected, especially from a noble. He didn't know very much about Riza, only that she was from some important family, and he had thought that all nobles were stuck up prigs.

The girl sniffled and looked up at him. Her tearstained cheeks were red and blotchy. "I don't, you have to believe me!" she said fervently, her eyes wide. "I couldn't find any way out of it… I tried so hard… please, please! Forgive me, please?" she finished, beginning to shake again.

The poor brunet really had no clue what to do. _What the hell is going on here?_ he wondered, utterly confused. "Uh… err…" he just kneeled there, totally out of his league.

Hey, you two!" Riku's voice came from down the hallway. "What're you guys just doing sitti-_RIZA!_" he yelled, coming stampeding down the hallway. He hurtled down the corridor, collapsing to his knees next to the girl. "Riza, what's the matter? Sora, what did you do to her?" he said angrily, glaring at the brunet.

Sora shook his head. "Hey, calm down! She just started crying and saying 'I'm sorry' over and over!" he insisted, backing away.

Riku muttered something and placed his hands on Riza's shoulders, stilling them. "C'mon, Riza. Can you tell me what's the matter?" he asked quietly.

Riza stopped crying almost immediately and looked up shyly at the prince. She tried to shrink away, but Riku's hands on her shoulders stopped her. "It's… it's just… I'm pulling you two apart… I'm so sorry!" she said again, her eyes quivering.

"Oh, that's what this is about…" Riku muttered, sitting back on his haunches. "I thought it might be something like this." He gripped Riza's chin with his hand and forced her to look at him. "Riza, listen to me. I don't blame you. Neither does Sora. I should have known that this would happen. It's not your fault, okay?" he explained, his eyes softening for a moment from their usual royal hardness. Riza gasped at what she could see behind those eyes, something Sora had seen many times before. "I knew that this was going to happen, yet I believed that there would be a way around it. Unfortunately, I was wrong. It's not your fault, Riza; it's mine."

Sora watched Riza's eyes fill with awe, and he knew exactly what it was that Riza had seen. Riku loved Riza, even if it wasn't in the most ideal way that would lead to progeny. Sora could feel the intense sadness welling up in himself, as if for the first time he truly saw his fate. There was no way he and Riku could be together; but at least the silver haired prince and Riza cared about each other. Well, that wasn't so bad. Sora smiled sadly to himself and stood up. At least he had this next week with Riku…

Then, he had no idea what he would do. It hurt inside him, knowing that the boy he loved was going to be left here and he stood very little chance of seeing Riku outside school again. He stood up silently and walked off down the hall, leaving Riku to comfort the distressed girl. He smiled sadly as he disappeared deeper into the castle, deciding to make the most of his trio here…

* * *

There was a trumpeting fanfare from outside the castle. It must have been very loud for it to echo all through the castle like this.

Sora tapped a servant on the shoulder. "What was that all about?" he asked.

The servant grimaced. "It means King Ansem is back."

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**Author's Rambles: What a cliffhanger to **_**finish**_** a story on!**

**Wow, it'd take a complete asshole to finish a story like that…**

**Well. I don't think I need to threaten Riku, do I? Reviewscontinued story.**


	18. Of Crystals and Forests

**Disclaimer: Meh.**

**Author's Rambles. Hehehe… I think I scared the bejeezus out of a lot of you. There's still plenty left in this story. Besides, I can't stand a sad ending. So, let's kick off again!**

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Chapter 18: Of Crystals and Forests

_I had no idea what he would do. It hurts inside me, knowing that the boy I love was going to be left here and I stood very little chance of seeing Riku outside school again. I stood up silently and walked off down the hall, leaving Riku to comfort the distressed girl. I smiled sadly as he disappeared deeper into the castle, deciding to make the most of my trip here…_

_There was a trumpeting fanfare from outside the castle. It must have been very loud for it to echo all through the castle like this._

_I tapped a servant on the shoulder. "What was that all about?" I asked._

_The servant grimaced. "It means King Ansem is back."_

* * *

I walked through the halls, trying to get as far away from Riku and Riza as possible. Guards kept brushing past me, hurrying to their posts in preparation for King Ansem's imminent return. I moved over to the edge of the corridor so as to not be flattened and kept walking, heading deeper and deeper into the castle. I was trying to ignore it… the reality of my situation. It wasn't until just now that the full truth of what was happening to me hit; I wanted to double over with the pain. My heart is aching; my nerves are tingling all the way down my arm, causing pain and cramps.

I keep moving deeper into the castle, a part of me marvelling at the magnificent architecture around me; the soaring ceilings, the intricate brass-work, the massive columns supporting the roof so far away.

I stepped through a massive set of double doors and found myself in the largest room I had ever seen; my mother's whole house could have comfortably fit inside it with room left over for a garden and a carpark.

And it was full of crystals. The floor was studded with huge crystals, poking up from the floor and rising to my head height. Some rose even higher, climbing to five or ten metres. There were all the colours of the rainbow present here, and in great abundance. I picked my way delicately through the crystal formations; I needn't have worried about breaking them, methinks. I could only just wrap my arms right around one of the smaller ones, my fingertips barely touching on the far side.

I silently slunk through the crystal garden, wishing I had brought some sort of light source with me. The room was fairly dark in the middle portions, the only light coming in from the doorways on the edge.

Nevertheless, there was enough light for me to pick my way through to the very middle, where there was a circular cleared space.

Set in the middle of it was possibly the largest crystal in the whole room. It wasn't wide; it would only have taken two of me to touch hands around it, but it was _tall_. It must have been ten or twelve metres tall, and it was a lovely azure colour. Its colour was intense and its interior flawless; I could see right through it. I stopped in front of it and gazed into its depths, entranced.

* * *

I don't know how much time passed like that… all I know is, somehow my troubles seemed to melt away in the face of that perfect expression of beauty.

* * *

"Magnificent, isn't it?" a rich, warm voice said behind me. Startled, I spun and raised my hand to my chest, trying to calm my frantically beating heart. A man was standing there, an oil lamp hanging in his right hand. The flame was turned right down, but it was enough for me to pick out his features. His orange eyes almost appeared to flicker in the wavering lamp light as they bored into me; his long silver hair hung freely to below his shoulder blades. He appeared to be wearing travelling clothes, a long black leather jacket that was buttoned right up to the collarbone. It was covered in the dust of the road, as if he had walked a fair distance.

"Wh-who are you?" I asked, my body still thrumming with the fright.

The stranger laughed, his voice coming out softly. He _seemed_ friendly, at least. "You must be our… guest, Sora Durin," the man guessed. "I'm Riku's father and the king of this place, Ansem Zephyr. Pleased to meet you," he said, offering a hand.

My system went straight back into shock. _King Ansem? Here…? He's… _I stuttered out a greeting, hoping he would mistake it for awe or some such nonsense, and shook his hand. _So, this was the man who ordered Kairi's murder._ I thought to myself. _He doesn't seem like such a bad man. I wonder why Riku hates him so?_

Ansem waved his free hand at the crystal, then at his surroundings. "This, Sora Durin, is the reason Radiant Garden is called that. On a sunny day, this crystal garden comes alive."

I looked up at the roof. I could have sworn that it was solid, no glass or holes or anything. I couldn't see any light, but it was cloudy outside so I couldn't really tell. "How does the light get in?" I asked, still staring at the roof.

I could feel the king's eyes on me. "How does someone get into your heart?" he asked in an innocent tone. Confused, I looked at him. Realising what I was doing, I immediately turned to face the floor. The king's feet moved closer and I felt his hand grip my chin, forcing my gaze upwards. His eyes locked with mine; I felt as if my soul was bared for him to read like a book. "Heh. You just have to let them in," he continued. "We just have to let the light in." He let go of my chin and turned away. I breathed a sigh of relief at being set free from his gaze. It was nothing like when I looked into Riku's eyes… Riku's gripped mine because of the mind-numbing, lovely, warm effect it had. This man's eyes had held mine by pure force of will. It felt invasive; I felt as if I had been bared to the world. "Sora Durin," the man asked, still facing the large central crystal.

"Y-Yes, your majesty?" I asked timidly, worried.

"What do you think of my son?"

The question was so unexpected that I didn't know how to answer it. "What do you mean?" I asked, stalling for time. My mind roiled, trying to decipher his question.

Ansem spun back to me, his eyes blazing with intensity. "You know very well what I mean, Sora Durin! I'm not stupid. I know very well what's between the two of you. I want to know what it is that you see in my worthless son."

Well, that tore it. _Great, is there _anybody_ who doesn't know?_ All I knew was I had to take this carefully; first chance I got, I was out of here. "W-well… he's a fun guy to be around," I started, my eyes darting from side to side as I sought an escape route.

"And?"

I cast my mind around, unable to find anything. It's weird, really. Whenever these questions are dropped on you, you can never answer them. And I certainly didn't want to tell this guy that Riku was a great kisser. I'm sure he'd _love_ a guy to tell him that about his son and the heir to the throne.

"Sire!" a shout came from somewhere out in the crystal garden. "Sire, are you in there? We have some forms that we need you to sign!"

Ansem swore and glanced over at me. "Sora Durin, it was good talking to you. I'm sure I'll see you again sometime in the next few days. Until then, let me tell you one thing. The royal bloodline's power can control and cause a lot of things… Goodbye." And he was gone, wending his way through the crystal formations.

I sank to the ground, gasping for air. I silently thanked the messenger over and over again, so grateful was I to be out of that situation. _Dear God almighty, please let me get out of this place alive. But… what did he mean by that? Does he mean Riku made me fall in love with him?_

* * *

"Bah."

I was about ready to give up… I had been lost in the stupid crystal field for hours now. I was sure that I had seen that particular crystal there at least four times now! Was I going round in circles? Frigging crystals. If they weren't so high, I could see the door over them!

That gave me an idea. I ran further into the crystal garden, searching for a well-shaped crystal. I found one that suited my purposes; big, wide, and had lots of offshoots. I clambered up the crystal, being careful not to put too much weight on the brittle offshoots.

Reaching the top, I glanced around, trying to find the exit. Ah, there it was! And it was close, too! I slid down the crystal, gasping as one of the offshoots poked me on the way down. I sprinted off through the formations, going in the rough direction of the exit.

Finally, I noticed a lighter patch. I darted around the final crystal, and there it was! The exit!

I came skidding to a halt, staring. A form was outlined in the light streaming through the doorway. It was a form that I knew well. "R-Riku," I murmured, stepping back. He stepped into the gloom, his face lit up by the cold twilight that seemed to fill this place. My heart and mind flip-flopped, the doubts from Ansem's words stewing in them.

"Finally, I found you," he said softly, moving closer. "I see you found our garden," he stated. "Come on, I want to show you something."

"Huh?"

Rikur just grinned, shook his head and grabbed my hand, tugging me into the crystal garden. _Aw dammit… I just found my way out of this place._

* * *

Within minutes, we were back at the large central crystal. "So, have you seen _this_ yet?" he asked, waving a hand at the gigantic crystal. I nodded mutely. He smiled sadly. "Damn… I was hoping I could have shown it to you…"

I shuffled my feet behind him. Seemingly not taking notice, Riku tapped the large crystal with one hand. "Now what was it…"

All of a sudden, his hair began to flutter and the air around him took on a slight glow. _He's using his power? Is… Is he trying to control me again?_ He laid a hand on the crystal and took a deep breath.

As he expelled it, light began to fill the crystal, radiating out from his hand. As I watched in awe, the massive blue crystal lit up from within, filled with a glowing blue light.

I saw something shoot past my feet; glancing down, I leapt back in surprise. Inlaid in the cracks in the floor was the same blue crystal, carrying Riku's power out into the forest of crystals. One by one, the other crystals began to light up and glow; soft reds, lavenders, greens and blues soon illuminated the massive chamber. The final effect was one of such amazing beauty that I was stunned speechless. Riku stepped up beside me and draped an arm around my shoulders, gazing out over the sea of light. "Beautiful, isn't it?" he asked, his eyes reflecting the vast array of crystals. "It's one of my favourite sights. It never grows old," he finished. All I could do was sigh in wonder and press in a little closer to Riku. I felt honoured to be the one he was sharing this sight with… all my fears and doubts were cast away effortlessly simply by the surety of his presence and touch. It felt as if we were all alone in the world, surrounded by this magnificent and magical sight.

* * *

At the doorway, we regretfully let go of each other and walked down the hallway, trying to make the random chatter that might exist between friends. It ground away at us both; Riku mainly because he much prefers silence, and me because it was just annoying.

Finally getting totally fed up, I decided to do something about it. "Hey Riku? Go grab Riza, let's go outside. Can you two show me around out there?" I asked, pointing out a window at the large pastures and forests that covered the landscape around three quarters of the Bastion – the final quarter being Radiant Garden. Riku nodded with obvious relief and sprinted off. I shook my head and followed him. It was starting to feel again like old times again, like before we were admittedly in love. It felt good, that was for sure. It felt good, knowing that we would easily return to the only available relationship to us. I grinned and ran faster.

* * *

**Author's note: From here on in, it's third-person, okay?**

* * *

In record time, they were all outside and running for our lives. Apparently, one of the guards had overheard Riku and Riza discussing the trip and had alerted a group as an escort; we had all been standing at one of the side entrances to the Bastion when they had arrived. Riku had taken one look at the group, frowned and bolted. Riza and Sora, after a moment's hesitation due to surprise, followed him.

He led them on a madcap path through the surrounding forest, splashing across small streams, leaping from boulder to boulder to cross miniature valleys, and clambering up, down and along rocks, trees, hills… whatever got in their way.

Suddenly, Riku screeched to a halt. The other two followed suit, craning their necks to see what had caused the delay. There was a ravine in front of the group, stretching a good four metre gap. "Damn," Riku muttered. "No ways in hell we can get across that. We gotta go around," he finished.

Sora glared at him. "Riku, I've seen you jump further in P.E. class!" he said forcefully, an evil glint entering his cerulean eyes. "We can get across this."

Riku jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Riza, who was still panting for breath. "She can't… Actually, maybe she can. Sora, you go first."

The brunet rolled his eyes and took a few steps back. The energetic and permanently hyper Miss Kusaragi had made her class do long jump with weights tied to their feet; the whole class and not a few parents had cursed her name several times over. She simply said she didn't care what they thought, they had just better do it. So by the end of it, the whole class could all jump absurdly long distances. The spiky-haired teen ran for it and leapt, easily soaring across the gap. He landed and rolled a few times, letting the ground absorb his inertia. Sora climbed to his feet and grinned, giving Riku a thumbs-up. "Hey, it's easy! Just like that time she made us leap that pit of jelly!" the brunet yelled, the adrenaline pumping through his system.

Riku grinned. "Now, Riza's turn!" he yelled back. Riza took one look at the ravine and shook her head, stamping her foot and yelling something crude at Riku. Riku just grinned and picked her up.

Sora's eye twitched. "You… you're not seriously gonna…"

"CATCH!" he yelled, the muscles in his arm bulging slightly – an effect of Cloud's PE classes. He flung Riza as hard as he could, sending the poor girl flying right across the gap.

"_EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"_

Sora caught her, the impact knocking him over and back a few feet. Riku landed beside the two, offering a hand to pull themselves up on. Riza took the proffered hand and clambered up, then turned around and began beating her tiny fists against Riku's chest. "THAT WASN'T FUNNY!" she yelled, beating him over and over. "WHAT IF HE HAD DROPPED ME?"

Sora began to laugh as she continued ranting and raving; the scene was just too funny. he clutched his sides; they felt as if they were about to split open. Riku was laughing too, which only made Riza more annoyed. She stamped her foot again and glared at the two boys.

There was a snort of muffled laughter from behind a tree. The three sobered up almost immediately and the two onetime lovers clambered to their feet, wondering who was hiding from them.

Auron stepped out from behind a tree, holding one hand over his mouth. "Really, you three. That was the funniest thing I've seen in years," he muttered, another short burst of laughter coming out from behind his hand. "Now, are you three going to keep running?"

Riku shook his head. "Auron, I knew _you_ would be able to follow us. And if you're here, I don't really need a hundred other guards, do I? I mean… as long as you have your _kikuichimonji_ then we're safe, right?"

Sora raised an eyebrow. "What's a ki kuich… what was that that you said?"

Auron drew his stupidly large katana. "This. It's the name of it." Letting it sink back into its sheathe, he rapped Riku on the head with his knuckles. "It's nice to know you have faith in my abilities, but even I can be overwhelmed."

**Author's note: I know… I know Auron's weapon has some other name. I just like the name **_**kikuichimonji**_**, okay?**

Sora's silver-haired love rubbed a hand on his head. "Ow, that hurt!" he growled, giving Auron a haughty look and storming off in mock-rage. The rest of the group just snorted and followed the prince.

Sora glanced off to his right; through the trees he could see the Bastion. _So, we got turned around somewhere,_ he thought. Apparently, they weren't as far from the Bastion as it seemed.

"Say, why do you need a guard anyway, Riku?" Sora asked. "I thought the royal family was-"

"Universally liked? Bah," Riku spat. "We're certainly not liked that well. I mean, the populace in general thinks we're doing a pretty good job, but…"

Auron's hand shot out and grabbed something. "But there are people out there who don't like the Zephyrs," he finished for the prince, opening his hand to show Sora and Riza what he had caught.

It was a _kunai_, a throwing knife. Auron yelled; "Get down!" and drew his big katana, his gaze darting around.

Riku and Riza immediately fell to the floor, Sora half a step behind. He felt the air over his neck break open as another _kunai_ passed through it, and he hurriedly finished the drop.

Within seconds, it was all over. Auron allowed them to stand up, but he clearly was not intending on letting them go any further. The three turned around and morosely began to make their way back towards the Bastion, Auron's watchful eye looking in most likely every direction at once.

Still… every eye has a blind spot.

With a cry, Riza grabbed her arm. A _kunai_ was sticking out of it. Tears of pain poured down her face, and Auron moved immediately to shelter her.

A man was in front of them, a several more of the throwing knives in his hands. Riku growled and thrust out a hand, twisting it sideways. The man convulsed and bent at strange angles until all of them heard the very audible sound of snapping vertebrae. The assassin lay in a heap, quite dead.

Riku stared at his handiwork, and suddenly bent over, retching. Sora rubbed his back gently. "Is anybody else hurt?" Auron asked in a crisp voice. "Tell me, now!"

"No…" Riku murmured, wiping his brow free of sweat. "Just Riza… and one dead man…" he finished in a tone of utter disgust at what he had done.

Auron laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it lightly. "Don't worry about that. Come on, we have to get back to the Bastion as fast as we can. I think that _kunai_ might have been poisoned."

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**Author's Rambles: Hi all, long time no see! I hope you enjoyed this super-special chapter of Prince Pinecone… Yes, I am making a comeback!**

**Don't worry… I don't want you Riza-fans to get upset. She's not going to die, I can promise you this now.**

**That is, if you give me enough reviews.**

**Until next time, folks! **

**Remember; give that lovely button some love! (I'm talking about the review button, dammit!)**


	19. Deus ex Machina

**Disclaimer: Honk if you care**

**Author's Desktop Scribbles: Heya folks! It's good to be back, you know! So, how are my readers? Ready and rearing to go with another chapter in – my humble opinion, of course – the BEST Soku out there?**

**Well damn… I hope you believe that that's this one…**

**Guess what? Thanks to all of you, I now have over ten **_**thousand**_** hits. Oh my God, I'm loved! **_**Dances around like an idiot**_** You guys are great.**

**Now, do me a favour. Hit the interweb button and look up what **_**Deus ex Machina**_** means, okay? It'll make the title of this chapter make that much more sense.**

**Ooh, and before I forget, props go to my oh-so-wonderful 125th reviewer, ****Hikari of the Moon**

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Chapter 19: _Deus ex Machina_

The three had arrived back at the Bastion in double-quick time, Riza being carried over Auron's shoulder. The man was surprisingly fast for someone carrying a huge katana strapped to his back…

_They had literally been running for their lives. About halfway back to the castle, Riza had uttered an "ah!" and simply fell over, clutching her arm where it had been bandaged. Auron took one look at her, noting the sweat pouring down her face and the blueness of her fingertips. He picked her up, slung her over a shoulder and yelled "RUN!" to the two boys._

_It was as the samurai had feared… the kunai had indeed been poisoned._

Riza lay in her bed, gasping for air. Her cheeks were a deep red and slick with sweat, a shade that made her blue-purple eyes amazingly obvious. When they could be seen, that was. Right now, they were screwed shut against some unfathomable amount of pain.

Riku and Sora stood on one side of the bed, watching the girl anxiously. In the short time Sora had known the girl, he'd come to think of her as a friend. And he knew that Riku would be very upset if anything were to happen to her.

The doctor was on the far side of the bed, examining her. He measured her heartbeat, he checked her temperature, pupils and even inside the ear; he even looked down her throat.

He straightened and looked up at Riku, his face grim. At that moment, the door slammed open and an angry Ansem stormed in. "What the hell were you thinking, Riku! You _know_ that it's dangerous out there! Why do you insist on disobeying the rules?" He stepped closer to the two boys, his eyes gleaming dangerously. They darted to the frowning Auron, who was in the corner of the room. "And _you!_ What did I hire you for?"

The doctor tapped Ansem frantically on the shoulder. "Sire, please calm down. You're stressing the patient, and that'll only quicken her death."

The effect was immediate. "Well, have you at least found out what the poison is?" he asked in his warm timbre. "Come on, man! The fate of my kingdom could be riding on this!"

The doctor's lips moved into a grimace. "It's a very, very nasty poison made from the Night-eye Iris. Luckily, I have the antidote… it's not that rare a poison, and thankfully the antidote is easy to obtain as well."

The king nodded. "So, do you have the antidote here with you?"

The doctor nodded and turned to face the dying girl. "I think your assassin, Prince, had a well-developed sense of irony," he added as he pulled out a syringe and a vial. "The antidote will, unfortunately, render her barren."

Riku, Sora and the king were all struck dumb. Ansem was the first one to speak. "_WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING?"_

The doctor shook his head. "I'm afraid not, sire." He loaded the syringe with the antidote and moved closer to her arm, picking it up.

Ansem waved a hand and turned away, as if about to leave. "Don't bother, then. Leave the worthless girl to die; I have no need of a girl who cannot provide my son with heirs," he declared maliciously.

"Sire?"

"_WHAT?" _Riku screamed, glaring at his father's back. "Doctor, if you know what's good for you you'll give her that antidote right now."

The king spun back. "Don't even think of wasting that antidote, doctor. That's a royal or-" Riku tackled his father, knocking him through the door. Sora yelped and ran after his boyfriend. He stopped at the doorway and nodded to the doctor, who immediately injected Riza.

Riku was kneeling on his father's chest, one hand over Ansem's neck, the other on his throat. "_Don't even think of finishing that sentence._" Ansem's golden eyes were wide with shock; Sora just stared mutely, waving away the concerned guards who were approaching. Apparently they were familiar with Riku's hatred towards his father, as they moved away after seeing that the king was probably not in much danger. "_Giving a royal order like that will condemn you,_" Riku continued in a scary voice. Ansem shrunk back slightly, mumbling something behind Riku's hand. "_Answer me, father. Do I make myself clear?"_

Ansem nodded, his eyes wide. Riku got up and stormed back into Riza's room, taking up sentry next to her bed once more. Sora simply watched the king, who was dusting himself off. "I'm sorry you had to see that, boy," the king muttered. He straightened his tunic and disappeared down the hallway, his back stiff. _Like father like son…?_ Sora wondered absently. _They both can give the cold shoulder like nothing else on this Earth._

Sora walked back into the room and stood next to Riku, slinging an arm around his shoulders. They silently watched the girl. Her complexion was already much better, and her breathing had slowed to what would be considered a normal rate. Soon she was fast asleep as the antidote removed the final dregs of poison from her system.

* * *

"Sora, she's awake! She's awake!" Riku yelled down the hallway; Sora heard it from in the library, fifty metres away. He put his book down, dog-earing his page, and bolted.

He screeched to a halt outside the room and walked in, looking down at the now-awake girl. "Heya Riza," he said softly. "You gave us quite the scare there."

Riza gave him and Riku a weak smile; her right hand was clasping Riku's tightly. _He's just like her brother sometimes,_ Sora thought.

"Am… am I gonna live?" Riza asked in a scratchy, trembly voice.

The two boys shared a look of mutual agreement; they'd give her the bad news later. "Y-yeah, you're gonna be perfectly okay," Sora said brightly.

Riza sank back into the pillows in relief. "That's okay then," she rasped.

Ansem stormed in. "No, it's not okay, girl!" he yelled. "That anti-_hurk!_" his face went a pale shade of blue, his eyes bulged in their sockets.

"Quiet, _father,_" Riku said in a dreadful voice. His hand was pointed at Ansem's throat, held out as if it were gripping the throat, even over the distance between the two. He lowered it, allowing Ansem to breathe again. He turned back to Riza, who was looking at him fearfully. "What the king was trying to say was…" he shifted uncomfortably. Sora laid a hand on his shoulder, willing him the strength. "The antidote… made you incapable of having kids," he finished, tears filling his eyes.

Riza blinked twice, letting the silver-haired prince's words sink in. "Wh… what? Y-you mean…" Riku nodded.

Her face was an interesting study in contrasts. It was filled with conflicting feelings, from sadness to what looked like joy. Sora could hazard a guess at why she was both happy and sad. _Well… sad is obvious… but maybe she's happy since she's free of royal duty now?_

* * *

He was alone with his mother, in her private study. "So, the girl's alright?" she asked her son. Riku nodded. "Well, that's a relief… Lord knows I'd miss the girl," she muttered.

_Good... she doesn't seem to care about the side-effects, _Riku thought. "Um… is… father okay?" he asked, not really caring one way or another. As much as he loved his mother, conversations with her were always like this; stiff, stilted and formal.

She nodded, looking him in the eye. "He is, no thanks to you, silly boy. Even though he is a useless father and sometimes a cold man, he is still this kingdom's king. Please refrain from killing him, okay?" she asked in a tone that sounded like restrained laughter.

Riku's mouth twitched into a grin. "So, what are you going to do now?" he asked.

His mother watched him carefully; he made sure to hide any elation that might be showing on his face. "I'm not sure yet. We'll simply have to find another girl. The kingdom needs an heir, Riku. Never forget that. That is your most important duty."

He sighed. "I _know_ that, mother. I'm not stupid. I know my 'royal duties'. You've drilled them into me since I was old enough to understand you," he said in an exasperated tone. "When I fall asleep, I have nightmares about the duties. I don't think I'll be forgetting them any time soon."

His mother rolled her eyes. "Well, if it helps, you've still got three years until you're old enough, you know," she offered. Better than perhaps anyone else she understood his pain; when she was younger she had fallen for someone her parents had deemed 'inappropriate'.

"Yeah, thanks but no thanks, mother," Riku finished, stalking out of the room. Whenever they got onto _that_ topic he always got pissed off at his situation; it generally made him a nasty person to be around for at least an hour.

He walked down the corridor that led back to the main hallway, his face stormy. A guard approached him, but soon hurried out of the way when he saw the evilness spread across the prince's face. They had seen him like this before and knew not to get in his way.

He kicked open the door to his room and stormed inside; about to throw himself onto his bed, he stopped. "Why… who… Sora, _how_ the hell did you get into my room?" he asked, dumbfounded.

The brunet jumped up from his seat and grinned cheekily. He pointed over to a hole in the wall – one which had definitely not been there a few minutes ago. "I came in through the secret passages! That's so _cool_!" He bounced up and down happily, his brown spiky hair swishing around as he did so. He calmed down and stepped closer to Riku, looking at his face. "Hey you, what's wrong now?"

Riku shook his head, trying to get rid of the anger showing on his face. "Nothing… It's nothing." Sora nodded and walked past him, heading for the door. Once he reached the door, he shut it and locked it. Riku started slightly, as if about to say something, but Sora raised a finger to his lips and shut the secret passage's door as well.

Once he had done all that, he mumbled something under his breath and tackled Riku, knocking him backwards onto the bed. Lying on top of Riku, he pushed himself up with his hands, glaring at the silver-haired boy. "You think I'm stupid?" he growled. "I _know_ that there's something wrong. Tell me, right now."

Riku just stared up at Sora. He couldn't move his hands; they were pinned under Sora's. "Y-You better hope nobody walks in…" he stuttered, his normally cream cheeks a pale shade of pink.

Sora grinned mercilessly. "Then you better tell me quickly. Or you're gonna be in a whole lot of strife." Riku squirmed under him, trying to find leverage to throw him off. Sora just grinned. "I'm not that light, you know," he said brightly. "Now tell me, or else."

Riku stopped squirming and gave him looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Or else _what?_" he asked dangerously. He was stronger than Sora and he knew it.

"Or else," Sora grinned and leaned close. "I'll do this." His lips met Riku's, pressing firmly up against them. After a second or two, he moved his head away. "Now, tell me or I'll keep doing that," he threatened, mirth dancing in his eyes.

Riku's cheeks were flaming by now. "N-No, I'm still not telling you. It's not really important, anyway."

"Liar," Sora said, kissing him on his forehead, on his cheeks, on his nose. "You're a filthy liar," he repeated, kissing Riku again.

Riku could feel his will dwindling; hell, he could feel himself _melting_ at each touch of those small, lovely lips. Those lips moved down the side of his face, onto his neck. He squirmed again. "Sora, that's _ticklish!_" he laughed, wriggling. Sora only kissed him there again and again, making Riku fidget and struggle all the more. "st-stop that!" he giggled, desperately trying to escape. "Ple-please! I'll tell, I'll tell!"

Sora instantly stopped and leaned back. "I'm not moving though," he warned.

Riku grinned. "I never asked you to."

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**Ravings of the One Who Writes: Well… been a while since we've had a moment like that, hmm?**

**There's not much left in this story… it may end – for real this time – fairly soon. I'm not sure when, hell I may even somehow crank out another ten chapters. Hell I hope not.**

**But… regardless, please review! **_**(Insert diabolical threat here)**_


	20. How's the Water?

**Disclaimer: **_**Hon Wilson Tuckey, MP;**__**The sitting member who has stood up for O'Connor for over 25 years**_

**Author's Bowl of Custard: Hon Wilson Tuckey. No clue who he is. Apparently he's quite an asshole, though.**

**But I digress. It appears that many of you were quite disappointed in my lack of threat… Therefore, I shall create a truly imaginative threat today. You shall not like it. And if I offend any journalists, tough. I don't hate you personally… I just don't like journalists in general. I'm sorry I offend you, but I'm not changing my story.**

**On another note, I'm happy and sad. Happy, 'cause I've got over a hundred and twenty hits for chapter 19 alone. Sad, 'cause I only got six or seven reviews out of it. **

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Chapter 20: How's the Water?

The grizzled ex-soldier took another puff of his cigarette, exhaling the smoke out into the misty morning air. His ever-present sunglasses balanced on his nose, hiding his green eyes. His scruffy beard was prickling him; he ran a hand along it. _I need a shave,_ he thought.

The scar that ran through his left eye was hurting slightly; sure sign that trouble was coming. The scar had never led him wrong. And whenever trouble was coming, it always meant extra work for the Guardian.

Auron groaned and stood up from his perch on the small bench, moving over to the edge of the tower. He was at the tallest point in the Bastion; he could see almost to the border of Radiant Garden.

It was four days since Sora had arrived; two days since Riza had been attacked and subsequently rendered barren. And today he had woken up with the left side of his face all puffy. _Geez, I just don't get a break, do I?_

* * *

Auron was still up the tower an hour later when the angry mob arrived. He glanced down from his spot; what appeared to be a large group of rowdy townspeople were approaching the bridge across the Rising Falls towards him. He sighed and jumped over the side of the tower.

His feet skidded on the wall as he kicked off; he landed neatly on the huge dome that stretched out about a hundred metres below where he had started. Beneath him was the crystal garden. He ran along the dome, sliding down the surface when the slope got too steep for running. He kicked off again, landing effortlessly on another roof; he continued like this, making his way down to the crowd.

"STOP!" the guard yelled, levelling his rifle at the crowd. "Disorderly mobs are not welcome on the palace grounds!"

_THUMP_

Auron straightened, patting the guard on the shoulder. "Sorry I scared you like that," he muttered. He stepped out closer to the crowd and stood there, his arms crossed defiantly. His _keikogi_ flapped in the morning breeze. "What's the meaning of this?" he growled wolfishly.

Instantly the rowdy mob was quiet. There was some shuffling of feet and one person, obviously the mob-denoted scapegoat, was shoved forwards. He clutched the morning's newspaper in his hand; he timidly stepped forwards, offering it to the samurai.

Auron snatched it from him and flicked it open; the front page headline caught his eye.

_**CROWN PRINCE SEEN KISSING OTHER BOY; RAISES WORRIES OF CONTINUED LINEAGE**_

He sighed and tossed the newspaper to the ground, grinding it under his combat boot. "I can see it's going to be one of those days," he muttered darkly. "So… What do you people mean by storming here? Going to break down the gates because of a news article?" he asked sarcastically.

The scapegoat shivered a little in front of him. "N-no… we just… wanted to find out if… if it was true," he stuttered.

Auron rolled his eyes. "I'll go fetch the prince. You all stay out here; the castle cleaners will have a fit when you traipse mud in through the castle," he ordered, turning. "Just wait here like a good unruly mob and behave yourselves."

* * *

_God, I hate the paparazzi,_ Auron thought as he stood beside Riku out in front of the mob. _Once this is over, I shall personally hunt down and dismember forty seven journalists._

Riku looked over the mob of people, taking comfort in the presence of his parents and a large portion of the Royal Guard behind him. Surprisingly, Ansem squeezed his shoulder for a second. "Don't screw up, son," he muttered in Riku's ear. "I'm counting on you."

The albino-haired boy shivered. It was scary to think that his _father_, the king of Radiant Garden, was relying on _him. _"So tell me, what is going on?" he asked in his best royal tone of voice.

"Are you gay?" someone asked. "Of course he isn't!" another yelled. "Is too! Look at him!"

It quickly broke down into a huge argument. Riku just stood there, hands behind his back, waiting patiently. He rolled his eyes as the argument stretched on and on; the minutes quickly added up. He had things to do today…

A large volume of water – pulled up from the rising falls by Riku's power – emptied over the crowd. The effect was immediate; there was no noise except for the sloshing of water. "Are we quite finished?" he asked pleasantly. "Or do you need another bath?"

What followed was the largest simultaneous shaking of heads in the world. The same poor scapegoat was pushed forwards; he approached Riku hesitantly, beads of water running down the length of his long, pointy nose. His clothes hung off his shoulders; he looked wet and bedraggled, like a kitten who had gone outside during a rainstorm. "S-sire… we want to know… is the headline on the newspaper true…?"

Riku looked down at the newspaper lying on the floor. Ink was running in rivulets along its length, completely distorting the headline. "Uh…"

The man bowed. "My apologies, your highness! Suffice to say… are you homosexual?"

The crowd seethed forwards, yelling various lines again. Riku glared at them; they immediately drew back. "Thankyou. Now…" he glanced back at his parents, seeking their support. Ansem just blinked at him and waved him on; his mother smiled sadly. "_Now, what the HELL brought this on?_" he yelled, projecting his voice as he had been taught by the master-at-arms. "_Are you people all insane? What on Earth could make you think this?"_ he puffed slightly, running out of breath.

The man in front of him whimpered and tried to shrink away. Riku's power grabbed him and forced him up straight. He was still shivering and shaking, even with the restraining powers.

One of the other townspeople – Riku couldn't see who – lobbed a second newspaper at him. He caught it and flicked it open, his eyes roving the front page. "Lovely," he muttered darkly.

The front page was a picture of him and Sora when they had thought they were all alone several weeks ago.

"_Hey Sora? C'mon, let's go into town!" Riku had said one Saturday morning. "I need to buy some more peanut butter, anyway. The boarding house always runs out too quickly."_

_Sora nodded and ran off to put his shoes on. Roxas, who had been passing by, raised an eyebrow. "A date?" he asked snidely. "Wow, Riku. That' so cu-" _

"_Say another word and I'll hang you by your tongue from the top of the tallest building I can find," Riku said ominously._

* * *

_The two walked side-by-side down the path that led to the main shopping centre in the sleepy little town. Riku's eyes were everywhere, covering as many surfaces as possible. Sora just grinned and shook his head. "Hey, what's that?" Riku had suddenly asked, pointing at a small park that was covered in weeping willow trees._

_Sora had just grinned, placed a finger on his lips and grabbed Riku's wrist, tugging him into the park. He had pulled his boyfriend in through the fronds of one of the willows, his eyes twinkling. "This park is famous for being a rendezvous," Sora had explained._

_The silver-haired teen raised one delicate eyebrow, his green eyes glittering dangerously. "Oh, what kind of rendezvous?" he had asked._

_The brunet's reply had been simple, straightforward and not a little exciting. "The best kind," he had answered before pulling Riku closer, his lips meeting Riku's in a pure, ardent expression of love._

_Riku, startled beyond belief, had responded enthusiastically, wrapping his arms around the brunet, pulling the two bodies as close as possible…_

* * *

"_Hey Riku, why the hell are your lips all bruised and crushed?" Selphie had asked him when he had walked back into the boarding house. "I didn't know YOU had a girlfriend too," she said conspiratorially._

_Riku had only winked at her, touched his lips and walked off to find an icepack._

Riku groaned and clapped a hand to his forehead, throwing the offending newspaper off the bridge. He couldn't even bear to read the associated article; he even knew who had taken the photo. _Raz, Dill, if either of you appear in front of me ever again I will KILL you,_ he thought grimly.

Forcing a placating grin onto his face, Riku stood up straight, his legs spread slightly and his hands behind his back. "Tell me; how much truth does a journalist write?" he yelled loudly, challenging any journalists in earshot. "Roughly five percent," he answered his own question. "Have none of you ever seen a photo-editing program before?"

Some of the mob people began muttering to themselves. Suddenly someone in the group yelled out; "I can guarantee that photo hasn't been edited!"

Riku's eyebrows shot up. "And why is that, coward?"

The mob parted and stepped back, revealing Dill. He looked like a cat that had just found a pitcher of spilled cream. His expression said revenge; Riku's eyes glinted. "Because I took it, you faggot prince. I was there. What do you say to that?"

Riku blinked twice. "Where's Raz? I highly doubt your two brain cells could bump together in the vast expanse of your skull and produce this thought," he said loudly. Many of the townspeople snickered. Dill just glared at him and took a step forwards; Auron's hand flew to his katana almost instantly. Riku continued. "Dill, I don't even think you have the brainpower to use a camera and sneak up on me simultaneously; You probably can't even walk and talk at the same time," he insulted, grinning.

Dill spluttered a few times; his hand flew inside his jacket. It came out complete with a magnum. He pointed it at Riku's forehead. Riku felt Auron stiffen beside him. "Don't. Let me handle this, guardian," he said quietly. He felt Auron relax in response. "So, you would point a weapon at me?" Riku taunted.

Dill growled and flicked the safety off. "And I'm going to blow your brains out in a second, you cocky faggot princeling!" he yelled.

Riku grinned. "Hey Dill? Somewhere at the base of the Bastion is a ladder. I hope you make it! Tell me how the water is, okay?" he gripped Dill and flung him off the bridge, turning to watch the would-be assassin soar out into the empty space. The man plummeted down; far below, Riku saw a large splash. "Hey mom? How long ago did the Rising Falls melt?"

His mother, in a completely neutral voice, answered him. "About five days ago – the day before you got home."

"So it's still cold?"

"Icy."

**00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

**Author's Mental Coffee Break of Thumbtacks: Meow, meowmeowmeowmeow meooooowwwwww…**

**Thankyou, my lovely audience. I think there are probably only three more chapters left in this story, maximum. I might have an epilogue; you never know.**

**Now for my threat: Unless you review, I will write the next chapter in a bastard mix of Swedish, Italian and Pig Latin.**

**On top of that, I will give Riku a sex change, make Ansem into a hippy and fling Sora into the waiting arms of Kairi.**

**Oh, and no anaesthetic for Riku's operation.**

**So you had damn well better review, you lazy readers. **


	21. Mob Mentality

**Disclaimer: This story is © by me.**

**Author's Ramblings: Hmm, that last chapter went down pretty well. I'm not really too sure where it's headed from here. Perhaps… Nah.**

**Let's go make some noise!**

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Chapter 21: Mob Mentality

Riku stared down at the icy water for a few more seconds, his face impassive. A few metres away, the crowd was staring in awe. A few of them were beginning to fidget, as he was hoping for. They were beginning to realise the inherent problems with going against a boy with abilities such as his, and so might perhaps come to their senses.

"Um… Your Highness?" one of the townspeople asked, from the safety of the crowd.

_Then again,_ Riku thought wryly, _the intelligence of a mob IS the lowest common denominator._ He sighed and turned to face them. "Yes, my audience?" he asked sweetly, his hands clenching and unclenching behind his back. "Is there something I can do for you?" He'd act oblivious to their former questions, maybe give them the hint.

Suddenly there was a slight noise behind him; his royal training kept him from looking, but Auron bent down and whispered in his ear. "Sora's here. He's wisely decided to hide behind your father and mother." He offered no advice, nothing more than that. As per the silent agreement between him and the prince, Riku wouldn't tell Auron what to do as long as the wolfish samurai didn't point out the obvious to him. He nodded slightly, almost imperceptibly, to indicate he had heard and understood. "Auron, if anything starts…I'm relying on you to look after him," he said softly. Auron grinned a lupine grin and moved his weight slightly. None of the townspeople would pick it up, but he was almost in a combat stance now.

He turned his attention fully back upon the townspeople. "Now, what was your particular problem?" he asked again, letting his hands fall to his sides and touch lightly the small dagger he kept hidden for comfort.

The man who had gone unnoticed just in front of him, snivelling slightly, drew the albino prince's attention. "Yo-your Highness… I, that is… we were… wondering about the truth of the newspaper article we showed you earlier," he muttered, shifting and scratching in anxiety at his exposed position.

Riku sighed dramatically. "First, a question for you; why does it matter to you people?" he asked, letting a touch of passion slip into his voice. "Does it really, honestly matter to you?" Behind him, his father started; the crowd's attention was drawn to him by the movement and by extension, to the small brown-haired, blue-eyed boy hiding behind the royal family. As soon as their attention went in that direction, Riku mentally kicked himself.

The crowd as one began shouting and pointing. _Jeez, you'd think they were all cavemen,_ Riku thought bitterly. _Well damn. Me and my big mouth._

* * *

Auron had ushered the whole royal family inside, signalling for the portcullis to be dropped – regardless of whether or not people were under it. Riku stood in the main foyer of the castle, panting. _God damn it… of all the times for father to twitch, it had to be then!_

They could still hear the calls and clamours from outside. Apparently the crowd had largely managed to put two and two together, mob mentality or no. And now they were, by the sounds of it, howling for his blood. "I really hate homophobes," Riku muttered dryly. "I don't think I'll be going outside in a long time." _Though I bet if I weren't a Zephyr they wouldn't care,_ he thought grimly.

Ansem coughed. "Son, this is your own fault. You are royalty, you know what is required of you. Yet you're the one who-mmff mmff!" Ansem stopped, his mouth covered by Riku's hand.

"Father, shut up. You can take your royal requirements and shove it up your-"

"Riku!"

Riku shook his silver mane. "Sorry, mother. But… Ugh. Leave me alone. I need time away from this whole stupid thing," he spat, storming off down the halls.

With an apologetic glance and a slight nod to Riku's mother, Sora silently padded off after him.

Ansem blinked twice. "Damned boy. Why can't he understand?"

The queen simply shook her head and smacked him lightly on the shoulder. "Come now. When you were young, you wanted to follow your heart, no? Riku's only a teenager, you know that."

* * *

Sora followed Riku to the crystal garden, but stopped at the entrance. Riku had disappeared into the maze of crystals and the brunet didn't really want to get lost. "Dammit…" he muttered. "Where is he?" _He'll probably go to the centre… but how do I get there?_

He felt a tap on his shoulder and nearly jumped out of his skin. He spun, holding one hand over his heart. Riza smiled at him, gliding past gracefully. "Come on, I'll show you…"

He followed the girl through the maze of crystals. _Why is she doing this? Didn't she love_ _Riku too?_

When he asked her as much, she snorted. "Please," she said, not turning around. "He's practically a brother to me. Ew!" she shivered. "Besides… You're the one Riku loves… that way. You should go and comfort him, not me. Here we are," she said quietly, stepping aside. "Go on. I'll go do damage control." And with that she was gone, whisking her way back through the crystal garden.

Sora stepped forwards, tip-toeing up behind the boy. Riku was focussed entirely on the massive centre pillar-crystal, clearly losing himself in its depths. "Sora?" he asked, making the boy jump.

"How did you know?" Sora asked, put out that he hadn't been able to sneak up and wrap him in a hug.

Riku turned, his mouth tilted into a small, soft smile. "I just knew. Besides… I could smell you."

Sora raised one eyebrow. "_Smell_ me? Yeah right."

Riku nodded. "You smell like the beach," he grinned. "Much better than some of the smells around the Bastion, I'll tell you that."

Sora grinned too and stepped forwards, his arms gliding around the taller boy's midriff. He squeezed the older boy tightly, not wanting to let go. "So, feeling better after yelling at your dad?" he asked impishly, leaning his head against Riku's chest.

Riku's arms tightened around Sora. "Yup. I've been wanting to do that for ages now." He smiled and kissed the fuzzy hair on top of Sora's head. "I don't know what's going to happen now," he admitted. "I mean, now that most of Radiant Garden believes I'm gay, they're likely as not to reject my rule – if and when it comes."

Sora tilted his head up. "Don't worry about it," he murmured, standing on the tips of his toes so his lips could meet Riku's. "Just don't worry about it." He pushed Riku back against the pillar, locking his lips with the silver-haired boy's again. After a moment, he leaned back and glared at Riku. "What's wrong? You don't want to?"

Riku shook his head. "Sorry… was a bit unexpected." One hand slid up behind Sora's neck and forcefully pulled him closer, Riku crushing his lips against Sora's. _Dammit, this heals everything,_ he thought absently. _It just feels so damned good._

Behind him, the pillar began to glow a soft pink as it resonated with the passion of the two…

* * *

There was a loud crashing sound, as if someone were storming through the crystal garden angrily. Sora and Riku pulled apart regretfully, each straightening the other's collar until they looked marginally respectable.

The Queen stormed into the opening, glaring at the two. They shrunk away from her ire, cowering against the other for support. "_What do you two think you're doing?" _she growled. "_I cannot leave you two alone for more than five minutes, can I?"_

Riku raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think we were doing anything, mother?"

His mother waved a hand at the crystal garden around them. It was only then that they snapped out of their daze and saw that all of the crystals were pulsing reds and soft pinks and lavenders. "They get like this when… when people let their heart run freely in here!"

The two glanced guiltily at each other. "We didn't do anything _that_ bad," Sora said placatingly.

"As well you didn't!" she muttered. "I really wouldn't want to have walked in on that," she finished.

Riku rolled his eyes. "As if. Admit it mother, you're a yaoi fangirl."

The queen blushed a little. "Shh… it's a secret. Besides, _my own son?_" she growled, all traces of embarrassment and amusement gone. She turned to leave. "Both of you, come with me. Now."

* * *

They were led to her private study. She stepped behind the desk and sat in the huge leather armchair, pointing at the two chairs on the closer side. "Sit. We really need to discuss this relationship of yours."

Sora swore he felt time freeze. His back tingled. _God, that felt like a whole freakin' army just walked across my grave! _The two teenagers obediently sat, watching Riku's mother as if she were a dangerous predator.

She sat down and steepled her fingers, looking at the two boys. For a minute she sat there, examining both of them. Sora felt as if his life were being laid bare in front of her. Presently, she opened her mouth. "You two... look. I know you two love each other, that's fairly obvious. But…" she sighed and rested her forehead on her steepled fingers. "It's not good. You know that, don't you?" Both boys nodded slowly, afraid. 'Well… if the circumstances were any other… I'd still find it absolutely disgusting that my son is-" she shuddered. "Reading books with characters like that is all well and good, and sometimes quite nice, but in the real world it's unfortunately not… not practical." Riku nodded again. Sora blinked, letting it sink in. He opened his mouth to protest, but suddenly felt Riku stomp down on his foot. He shut his mouth again quickly, silently making a note to get the prince back for that one.

"Now... You two, I hope you understand my position," the queen stated. "I honestly cannot let you two be seen together now. I have only a very small chance of calming down the blasted riot that's going on outside, but if you two are found to be anywhere near each other again all hope of that will go out the window."

Sora blinked again, trying to work out what she meant. Next to him, Riku gasped angrily, shouting "WHAT?!" loud enough to draw worried mutters from the guards outside the door.

"Behave yourself, Riku." The queen said dangerously. "I'm sorry, but I have no choice. Sora, I'm going to have to ask you to return to your home a day early… I just don't want to risk the fiasco that's brewing because of you two. Riku, I'm going to pull you out of Twilight High; you'll be returning to getting schooled by your tutor."

The two boys just sat there quietly, the end of their love life slowly sinking in. Sora couldn't move; he couldn't feel anything anymore. Riku was much the same, shocked into silence. His hands were gripping the chair's arms, his knuckles a stark white against the usual pink of the rest of his skin. His eyes were wide, every nerve lapsed into unconsciousness.

"Love is a beautiful thing," the queen muttered. "But at times, so impractical. You knew the first law, Riku. _Royalty may not love._"

**00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

**Author's Mental Kitty-Cat: Dear God… I hated writing that last bit. I felt myself as if I was going to cry…**

**Guys reading this, please don't cry. And don't leave my story, okay? I swear, it'll get better.**

**It… it just doesn't seem right to threaten you all now. But… please review. Tell me that this story is loved, give me the will to continue. If I don't get reviews, I may leave this story unfinished… and leaving it sad like this is no good.**


	22. A Beautiful Thing

**Disclaimer: In Australia, Ischaemic Heart Disease is the overall biggest killer.**

**Author's Rambling Senseless Violence: Fact: IHD is the largest killer.**

**Fact: It kills very fat people.**

**Fact: I LIKE REVIEWS! SO WHY DON'T YOU LAZY READERS REVIEW MORE?**

**Now that I've gotten **_**that**_** over with… let's have a blast.**

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Chapter 22: A Beautiful Thing

"_Love is a beautiful thing," the queen muttered. "But at times, so impractical. You knew the first law, Riku. Royalty may not love." _

Within three hours, Sora was packed and on the next flight to Destiny Islands, his hometown. _I won't cry… I won't give Ansem that satisfaction,_ Riku thought dimly as he watched Sora walk through the departure gate without even a look back. His hair was still itchy from the hasty dying it had gone through, but he resisted the urge to scratch. His eyes never left Sora's departing back, and he refused to move until the brunet was long out of sight around a corner. "I love you, Sora," he murmured softly under his breath. With a slight shock, he realised that he'd never actually said that to Sora's face.

"Did you say something, son?" Ansem asked, his brown hair hiding his eyes – given that they were orange, this was probably a good thing.

"I said you win, father," Riku shot back, walking off morosely. "I'll see you two back at home." With nary a backward glance, he strode out of the airport and down the main street.

Auron dropped off a building, landing next to him and walking beside the prince. "Not a nice feeling is it?" he asked quietly, his deep voice soft with sympathy.

Riku shook his head, the black tresses swinging. "No, it's not," he answered, not really listening. After a moment, he stopped. "Wait, how d'you know what it feels like?" he asked curiously, grateful for something that could distract him from the icy cold hand clenched around his heart.

Auron grinned behind his ever-present sunglasses, the scar through his left eye crinkling up. "Way back in the day, I had a sweetheart too, you know. I wasn't _always_ your family's guardian," he said sagely. "But I had to leave her behind to come here…"

"Why didn't you go back?" Riku asked, pressing for details.

Auron's eyebrow twitched. "Because in the three years that I was gone, she moved on. She ran off with some man named Gyre and married him."

Riku's jaw dropped. "A-Alisha? Kairi's mother?" He started giggling. "The psychopath driver?"

Auron growled and raised an eyebrow. "You know her? Hmm… small world." Without another word, he started walking again. Riku ran to catch up with the guardian's long legs.

"Thanks, Auron," he said, smiling at the wolfish man. "I feel a little better now."

Auron clapped him on a shoulder, nearly dropping the prince to his knees. "Some things aren't meant to be, Prince. Maybe his story and yours were never meant to meet."

* * *

Sora didn't let himself cry until he was sitting in his seat on the plane. Even then it was hard, letting them out. The pain was simply too much; his heart felt like it had been ripped in half, stabbed and stuffed into a glacier all at the same time; the pain of it was tingling all the way down his arms and he felt like he was going to pass out.

Even he had had to have his hair dyed; it was now a dark blond, making him look almost identical to Roxas. Although the thought had occurred to him, he simply failed to see the humour in it.

As the plane became airborne and it felt as if his stomach had dropped out of his abdomen and finished up somewhere in his legs, the salty drops of water finally began to roll, letting out the pain. He quietly sat there, grateful for the fact that the seat next to him wasn't occupied. When he was in a bad mood, it was better that he was alone; he tended to snap at people if he wasn't.

Slowly but surely he drifted off to sleep, into a dreamless oblivion where pain didn't exist…

His mother and brother met him at the airport – or they were meant to. It took them a minute to recognise him, Roxas' face twisted in confusion and their mother glancing worriedly between the two. "Hey bro, mum," he greeted, dropping his suitcase next to him. "It's me, Sora…"

His mother gasped and wrapped him in a big hug, squeezing him around his torso. "Hmm? What's the matter, Sora?" she asked when he made no move to hug her back. "And howcome you're home early? I thought you only came back tomorrow?"

Sora wriggled out of her embrace and picked up his suitcase. "I'll… I'll tell you when we get home. I don't really feel like saying it in public."

* * *

"And that's what happened," he finished, tears once again coursing down his cheeks. They met at the apex of his chin before dropping into his lap.

He was sitting in one sofa chair in the living room, Roxas and their mother opposite him on the couch. They silently absorbed the story that the brunet had just relayed to them.

Their mother stood up and rushed over, wrapping Sora in a hug again. "Oh my baby, that's so sad!" she cried, squeezing his head against her. "That's… that's just sad!"

"You.. don't care that I am in love with the prince?" Sora asked, his muffled voice emanating from somewhere in her arms.

Roxas snorted. He stood up and kicked open the door to the dining room. Sora glanced in, blinked, and looked again. "Wh-Why are there craters in the walls?"

His twin laughed a harsh laugh. "She found out from Kairi's mum. And took it out on the walls, apparently," he snorted, holding back another laugh. "Gave me a helluva fright when I came home a few days ago."

His mother shook her head. "That doesn't really matter now… It still creeps me out, though." She let go of Sora and stepped back, dropping back into the sofa.

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. You just want grandchildren."

Their mom sighed dramatically. "Oh well… at least I still have you and Na-"

"MOM!" Roxas yelled indignantly. "I told you! We're just friends, okay?"

Their mother's bottom lip wobbled. "But… but… she's so cute! She's perfect for y-"

"MOM! STOP IT!"

Sora couldn't help but laugh; even if for a moment, the pain was forgotten, resting deep within his heart.

* * *

The twins were on the Island's peninsula, as they often were when one of them was upset. The sun was setting, the great giver of life slowly sinking into the ocean. The horizon was on fire, lit up by the molten orange light.

Sora stared at the sun as it slipped over the horizon, melancholy thoughts drifting through his head. The water lapped at the base of the rock he was sitting on; he paid it no heed.

Roxas was sitting next to him, watching the sight as well. "Hey bro?"

"Yeah?"

"I… I know that you must be really upset, but…" Roxas took a deep breath and wrapped one arm around Sora's shoulders, squeezing his brother for a second before he removed his arm. "But don't do anything stupid, okay? Loving another guy is still disgusting to me, but you're still my older brother."

Sora turned his head to watch his brother for a second, grinning. "Don't worry. I'm sad, not suicidal. Your brother's not gonna die any time soon."

They sat in silence for a while, before Sora thought something up. "Hey Roxas? Did I tell you about the time Riku, Riza and I went into the forest behind the castle?" he asked curiously.

The blond twin shook his head. "Nope… what happened?"

Sora's eyes sparkled. "We were attacked by crazy guys!" he said excitedly and began to tell Roxas all about the attack.

Roxas watched his older twin as the boy spoke animatedly. _Jeesh… he really got hurt by that one…_ he thought, grimacing. _I could feel his pain all the way over here._ At about lunchtime, Roxas had nearly collapsed into his plate of lasagne, such was the pain that came streaming down the bond between the twins. As near as he could tell, that had been when the Queen had issued her edict splitting the two apart permanently; Roxas had half a mind to tell Axel to go and set fire to the palace or something. He kicked his feet, wincing at the girl – who sounded awfully Kairi-ish – getting hit by the poisoned _kunai_, grimacing at Riku's violent treatment of the assassin.

"… and then he tackled his father right out of the room!" Sora finished, tears of laughter streaking down his face. "That was the funniest thing I saw the whole time!"

Roxas snickered. "Heh. I'm glad it was so amusing… I bet the King didn't think so. What'd the guards do about it?"

Sora giggled. "That was the best bit; they didn't do _anything!_" he explained, laughing a bit harder.

Roxas shook his head. _Jeez, that sounded so fake it's not funny. Sora, you can't fake a laugh to your brother's face._ "Come on, let's talk about sommin' else," he offered, trying to get away from the topic of Riku. _I pray he's not like this for the next week… or else the holidays'll be no fun._

* * *

It was the last weekend of the holidays. As per their usual custom, Sora and Roxas were at the Autumn residence, for simple ease of getting into the boarding house on time. The Autumn family already knew the story; they had forced it out of Sora within minutes of his arrival and had all been quite shocked when he had simply burst into tears.

The three boys were sitting in the beanbags in their rec room, talking quietly about anything that came to mind. Roxas pointed at a very conspicuous white patch. "Is… is that what I think it is?" he asked, a look of disgust across his face.

Axel nodded. "Yup. Amazing stuff, bleach."

Roxas shivered at the memory. "That… was not our best weekend, methinks." Sora murmured something that sounded like an agreement. Roxas rolled his eyes. At least he was saying something. "Ah, that reminds me. Dunno how, but hey. Have you heard from Demmy recently?"

Axel nodded. "He just got back from some week-long scuba-diving course. Apparently he's discovered he likes being a fish," he said with a smile.

The blond twin snorted. "That kid always was odd." Axel nodded vigorously, grinning. "Say… did you finish… that?"

The redhead raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask? Feeling like trying a bit of pyromaniacy?"

Roxas winked. "That's _your_ job, you maniac. I just like watching."

The pyro snorted. "Well, I did finish it. I've only got a small bottle, but it's good stuff." He stood up and walked out of the room for a minute, soon returning with what looked like a bottle of Tabasco.

* * *

**Author's note: For those of you heathens who don't know what Tabasco is, some people call it hot sauce. It's pretty much a bottle of liquid fire… if you get a good mix, that is.**

* * *

"A lovely mix of about five different chemicals, it makes lot of light, looks really flashy and doesn't produce any heat," Axel reeled, a touch of pride entering his voice. "All it takes to set it off is a focused beam of light... and _I_ have a laser pen." He held up a thick black pen, proudly showing it off.

Both twins whistled softly. "Wow… think of the fun we could have!" Sora exclaimed, the cogs in his brain already moving. "Heehee, imagine Mr. Leonhart's face if his desk was on fire?"

Axel grinned. "Now _that_ sounds more like the Sora I know," he proclaimed. "I say we celebrate by eating some of my sister's brownies."

"That's good. Here they are, fresh from the oven!" Kairi announced from the doorway. She held up a plate piled away with slabs of dark brown chocolatey goodness, proudly bearing their sugar dose for the next month. She set it down between the three and plopped down into a beanbag, sighing. "Well come on, eat up!" she urged after nobody moved for the brownies.

Roxas grimaced. He turned and snatched the laser pen from Axel's grip, pointing it at the brownies and pressing the buttons. Nothing happened for a second, then the top brownie burst into flames, setting off the next one and so on until the whole plate looked like a merry campfire. "Kairi, what have we taught you about letting Axel near your cooking?" he asked, picking up a brownie. He took a bit of the flaming chocolate sweet. "Mmff, mmf! Nghthh hehehe!" he mumbled around the brownie.

Axel and Kairi immediately looked to Sora. "What'd he say?" Axel asked, thumbing his hand at the blond twin.

The brunet thought for a moment. "He said that the flames are ticklish. I wanna try that!" he crowed, picking up a brownie and biting it. Axel and Kairi followed suit.

The flames _were_ ticklish! Sora couldn't stop giggling at the unique situation that he was in; he was eating fire.

* * *

The four were sitting around the rec room, the plate between them covered in crumbs. Sora licked a thumb and began dabbing up the crumbs.

"Only two more nights," Kairi sad morosely. "Then we gotta go to school again…"

The mood in the room immediately sobered. Sora tried hard not to think about what would come with the new school term, but he couldn't help it. _I really don't want to go back…_

* * *

"WHAT?" Riku yelled, drawing guards at a run. "You're kidding me, right? Aren't they…"

Riza desperately tried to quiet him. "It's only a rumour."

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**Author's Tears of Angry Pencil Leads: My head is stuffy. It feels like it's about to explode and cover my bedroom with my brains.**

**I really hate colds, you know. I also hate it when I look at my statistics. **_**One hundred **_**people have read Chapter 21, but I got less than ten reviews.**

**Look, if you people read, for the love of God just review! Tell me if you like how the story's progressing, tell me if you think I should stop writing, **_**tell me something!**_

**Riku:**_** (walks in)**_** Calm down, Nicky. They're just readers.**

**Nicky: **_**(Glares at Riku)**_** Don't tell me to calm down, boyo. You're the one getting all loco at a rumour.**

**Riku: Hey, no fair. YOU wrote that, bastard.**

**Nicky: I can also do THIS. **_**(Begins writing)**_

_**(Needles appear around Riku and begin stabbing him repeatedly, while his clothes disappear and a fireman walks in and starts spraying Riku with the fire hose)**_

_**(Off in the distance is a wedding – Sora and Kairi's)**_

**Riku: OH DEAR GOD, PLEASE REVIEW AND STOP THIS MANIAC!**


	23. Suteki da ne?

**Disclaimer: Niccolo cannot be held responsible for any fangirlism, yaoi acts and/or aneurisms that occur as a result of his writing.**

**Author's Bottle of Coke: A pleasant surprise, that. I go to sleep. When I wake up, I have ten reviews, **_**overnight,**_** for chapter twenty-two. Thank you all and sundry for being such good people and actually reviewing.**

**Props to you.**

**00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Penultimate Chapter: Suteki da ne?

Sora morosely walked through the front doors into the boarding house, a few steps behind Roxas. The twin's arrival back at school was always a sober occasion for them, but this term it was more so than usual for the normally cheerful little brunet. There was nobody here for him, there wasn't any real reason anymore.

He felt 'grey'.

Nothing appealed to him. The house's new coffee-machine, which would in other circumstances have demanded severe testing by him, just didn't call. The fresh jars of peanut butter just didn't look the same without Riku to share them with. Nothing was the same, nothing was _right_.

Sighing, he walked up to the duty desk and accepted his signing-in card, quickly writing his signature in the spot and slotting it into his pigeonhole next to the desk. He picked up his bag and dawdled down the length of the common room, not really paying any attention whatsoever to what was around him. Which is why when the girl in front of him waved for his attention, he simply walked straight into her and bowled her over.

"Ow, that hurt!" Selphie whimpered, climbing to her feet and glaring at the inattentive boy. "Watch where you're going, Sora!"

Sora blinked twice and stared at her as if only just noticing the girl. "Oh, sorry Selphie…" he mumbled, trying to walk past.

She grabbed the back of his shirt. "Hold it, mister. What's the matter with you?" she asked concernedly. "And where's Prince Riku? I thought he'd be coming in with you…?"

Sora's face crinkled up at the mention of his boyfriend's name. He turned away wordlessly, picked up his bag and pulled out of the girl's grip. Within three steps, someone else grabbed him to ask. And another, and another.

It was only then that the reality of the situation properly sank in: he really _wasn't_ coming back.

The brunet took three more steps and stopped; something was weird with his body. He felt a massive 'kwa-thump!' in his chest; pain lanced through every single nerve. His poor body couldn't handle the stress; he simply collapsed.

* * *

Sky-blue eyes flickered open, looking up at the pale crème roof above him. _Ah, I'm in the med centre again,_ he thought absently. _Last time I was here... Riku..._ he quickly glanced over to the chair, hoping to see Riku sitting there reading a three-month-old issue of _Keys Weekly_ like last time. But alas, there was only a worried Roxas, Selphie and Larxene. "H... How did I wind up here?" he croaked. Larxene wordlessly nodded to the blonde boy sitting next to her. Sora smiled his thanks, to weak to do anything else. "It... hurts," he muttered to nobody in particular.

There was a harrumph from the foot of the bed. The doctor was holding a clipboard. "Young Sora, can you tell me what happened?" he asked, his bulbous, purple nose twitching. He motioned Sora to sit up, pulling out a stethoscope and using it to check Sora over.

Sora shrugged as best he could. "I'm not too sure... All I know is it felt like my chest got ripped to shreds, then my whole body felt like it was on fire." He winced at the recollection; his heart had felt torn into a hundred pieces. It wasn't the most pleasant of feelings.

The doctor took his glasses off and hung them in his shirt collar. "Hmm..." he muttered thoughtfully, tapping his chin. "I wonder. Did you... recently has something pretty nasty happen to you? Or to someone close to you?" Sora nodded, which made the doctor grin. He leaned against the foot of the bed. "Sora, Sora, Sora. In the past two years I've treated you for everything from broken bones to burns – when that blasted friend of yours blew up the library – but I'm afraid I can't help you on this one." He smiled sadly. "Only your body can heal it."

Larxene glared at the doctor. "Doc, you better start talking sense please," she said warningly. "Why can't you help him?"

The doctor stood up, reached down and patted Sora's foot through the blanket. "I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker. I can't fix a broken heart. Only Father Time can do that," he offered. "Physically, Sora's as healthy as can be. Mentally and emotionally however, he's not so good."

* * *

Larxene drilled him for details all the way back to the boarding house. When he finally caved in and told her, he made sure that anybody else was well out of earshot – and electrocution range.

"And that's what happened," he said tiredly. He was thoroughly sick of telling this story; he thought that it was perhaps the constant asking after Riku which had caused him to collapse earlier. It hadn't happened at all in the past week, but then again for the past week Roxas had tried hard to keep Sora's mind off of Riku. "I'm... I'm just not looking forward to tomorrow," he muttered. "I'll have most everyone in the school asking where he is... I ay collapse again."

Larxene shook her head. "I'm glad I'm not you, Spikey. I'm so glad I'm not you."

* * *

Sora finally made it to his bedroom, dumping his sportsbag on the floor at the foot of his bed. He shut the door behind him and twisted a few of the locks, not really bothered with the twenty-something traps embedded in his doorframe.

He worked his way over the room – mindlessly dodging the few traps scattered around the place – until he was on what used to be Riku's side. The brunet took a deep breath; Riku's scent still lingered, an odd one comprised of apples, pine needles and something that he couldn't quite place but reminded him vaguely of stuff you dipped pumpkin fritters in to.

He pulled open the cupboards, already half-expecting what he found. All of the prince's stuff had been packed into two boxes and left in the cupboard, ready for someone from the Bastion to come pick it up. One box was labelled 'summer' and the other was labelled 'winter', probably denoting the clothes within.

**Author's note: Americans, a cupboard is a closet. Just in case you don't know. Za, please remember this one.**

Tears rolled down his face; he threw himself onto the bed that had at one point been occupied by the boy he had madly – both metaphorically and apparently literally – loved.

Sleep was not easily obtainable; when it was, he got woken up just before midnight by a screeching of brakes from outside the house. He heard car doors slam and what sounded like Alisha's voice yelling something about moronic drivers; the dim thought occurred to him that she could have been talking about herself. He blinked again and rolled over, trying to get back to sleep.

Finally giving up, he got up, walked out shut the door behind him, meaning to get something to drink. He worked his way down to the dark common room and pulled a bottle of juice and a glass out of a cupboard, pouring himself a cup.

Draining it, he put the glass in the sink and stumbled back up the stairs to his room – stubbing his toe on the way up.

His room door was ajar. _Curious,_ he thought. _Who's inside my room?_ He kicked the door open, fists raised. A familiar flap of red clothing made him lower them. "Auron, what the blazes are you doing here?" he asked angrily, not wanting to see anybody even remotely connected to the Prince at the moment.

"Picking up this stuff. It's gotta be taken back to the Bastion anyway," the guardian said, picking up the box marked 'winter' and shouldering it. "I didn't realise you were back... we'll get the other box some other time. You. Sleep. Now." The man walked out of the room, leaving a confused, tired and quite exasperated Sora behind him.

* * *

The next morning dawned bright and cheerful; the sky was completely empty of clouds. A bluebird sitting in the tree outside Sora's window woke him with its happy singing; he groaned and rolled over, trying to go back to sleep. The bird twittered happily at him, finally dragging him from his bed.

He licked his dry lips. There was a funny taste on them… sort of like cinnamon. Bizarre. He couldn't say the same for the rest of his mouth, though. It tasted like the ashtray of the world.

He rubbed his gritty, puffy eyes, trying to clear them out. _Today's going to be a long day,_ he thought sadly. _I really just want to curl up and cry._ Sora sighed and pulled the towel off the towel-rack; even though it was only half-past six, he may as well go shower.

Word had spread like wildfire through the boarding house the day before about Sora's collapse and subsequent diagnosis by the school doctor; it was hard to keep a secret in a small community like the thirty-odd people who were boarders. As Sora made his way down the corridor and the stairs to the common room, he kept receiving sympathetic looks from everyone, even the twelfth years, whom he barely knew. It really wasn't helping him much.

Everyone was very quiet; Sora guessed that they must have been told about Riku. It was rare that the house lost a member; when it did, most of the occupants went into semi-mourning.

**Author's note: This actually does happen… I saw it twice in my boarding house.**

_At least… At least nobody'll be able to try and take advantage of his position now,_ Sora thought. _And hopefully I won't have to deal with girls kya-ing all day._

"Sora Durin?"

Bleh. Maybe in a few years they'll let me visit him… that'd be nice, even if we aren't allowed to love each other.

"Sora?" the voice said more insistently. The brunet felt a jab in his ribs. He squeaked and jumped, glancing up to see most of the boarding house staring at him expectantly. He smiled apologetically and answered the roll call, silently kicking himself.

"Really, bro…" Roxas said quietly. "I know you've lost your friend and your… lover in one fell swoop, but stay with us!" he whispered teasingly, poking him in the ribs again. "Or I'll be forced to keep doing that."

Sora squeaked again and glared at Roxas, flicking one hand over his head. "Gimme a break, Roxas. First time we left the Islands and you had to leave Nammy behind you were all quiet for at least a week."

Roxas turned red and fidgeted a bit. Selphie leaned over from next to Roxas and whispered, "Who's Nammy?"

Sora beamed. "His special girl back home," he murmured, winking at Selphie. Roxas elbowed him and glared, hard enough to peel paint. "What? It's true, isn't it?"

Roxas, still a bright shade of red, muttered angrily, "Just don't tell mom, okay?"

* * *

Sora's mood went from bad to worse as the morning progressed; by the time he walked into homeroom, he was severely depressed once again. He slunk as best he could over to his desk, avoiding all the people and their conversations. He simply didn't have the energy. One of the day students tapped him on the shoulder, probably trying to inquire after his holiday, or some other such nonsense. He just ignored the boy, who grew more and more insistent until Roxas simply pulled him away. The blond boy sank into the chair next to Sora, wordlessly waiting.

Finally, Roxas spoke. "Sora, you're not going to be able to avoid life forever. Your grey mood's going to have to lift soon… Lord, it's making _me_ feel awful too." Roxas shifted a few times, shifting his chair a bit closer to his brother. "It really hurts, doesn't it?" he asked softly, watching Mr. Leonhart come into the classroom. "Ugh… sorry, I gotta go back to my seat now."

Sora blinked twice and sighed, leaning on his hand to stare out the window.

"Roxas?"

Outside the window two sparrows were swooping and tossing in the small thermals coming off the brick path. At the end of the path he could see the Autumn's car, with Alisha Autumn leaning against it. She looked like she was talking to someone, but Sora couldn't see who.

"Sora?"

Sora raised his hand, wiggling it slightly to signal he was alive and awake. "Here," he mumbled. Mr. Leonhart just watched him for a minute, his gaze roving to the desk next to him, which was empty. Then the teacher shrugged and continued on the list.

Out the window, Sora saw someone running like hell up the path from the direction of the parking lot. As he watched, the person ran into the school door which was almost directly below Sora and disappeared from the brunet's sight.

_Thud, thud, thud._ Sora heard the person running desperately.

"Yuna?"

"Here," the small girl answered in a tiny voice.

_Thud, thud, thud. _The person was coming up the stairs.

Sora tuned out of Mr. Leonhart's roll call, listening to the person's progress.

_Thud, thud, thud._ The boy – as Sora thought the person was – had reached the first floor. _Thump-thump-thump-thump._ They must be running hard. The boy was running very quickly in the direction of Sora's classroom. A quick check showed nobody to be missing, so the person must have come from a few doors down. _Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump._ Sora heard voices in the hallway yelling at the person.

"Zephyr?"

_Thump-thump-thump-thump._

"Riku?" Mr. Leonhart asked more insistently. "Anybody know where Riku is?"

_Thump-thump._

"Riku?"

Sora looked up. "He's not-"

_BANG. _"Here," came a familiar voice from the corridor. Sora's heart leapt into his throat as the boy whom he had thought lost to him stepped into the classroom, panting for breath. "I hope I'm not late." He calmly walked over to his seat and slipped into it, winking at Sora. "I'll explain later… just-AUGH!"

Sora had leapt bodily out of his chair, wrapping both arms around Riku. Riku sat back in his chair awkwardly, wondering what to do. Eventually he simply shrugged and put his arms around Sora, squeezing tightly. "C'mon, Sora… the class is staring…"

"I don't care," came a muffled voice from somewhere near his chest. "I'm just glad you're back."

Riku grinned, feeling his eyes get wet – as well as his shirt, thanks to Sora. "So am I, Sora. So am I."

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**Author's Excited Ramblings: It's not the end, there's one more chapter!**

**But don't you love a happy end to a love story? I know some out there don't, but I do. So sue me – or just love the story for what it is.**

**And now… my threat: Review or else this whole chapter is a dream.**


	24. Final Chapter

**Author's Tired Mumblings of an Insane Mind Verging on Collapse due to an Overdose of Coca-Cola, Manga and Chocolate but not Quite Beyond Functionability: Oops. Sorry, that kinda got away from me there.**

**Anyway, are you people as excited as I am? It's kinda sad, finishing a story… But hey. Maybe this chapter will push my counter past two hundred reviews? That'd be so awesome, and a definite milestone for me.**

**Now seriously, you should go read some of the absolutely bizarre reviews I've gotten over these past six months… I must say, I liked the one about my own bad break-up. And the one I got way back for chapter one from "Tight lyka tiger". The only one to criticise my story… Still food for thought though. Obviously, they shall never know the loveliness of this chapter, number 24. **

**And Hikari of the Moon, my most steady reviewer. You had better review this final chapter, Hikari. And since you're my 180****th**** reviewer, I have a present for you. **_**(Gives Hikari a life-size Sora plushie and the rights to the movie of the story "Mr. Pinecone".)**_** I'm expecting a good movie.**

**Okay, reminisce later! Guys and gals, let's have a blast!**

**One final note: It probably won't be that believable and wouldn't likely occur in real life… but then again, that's what fanfics are all about, no?**

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Final Chapter

_Riku, Riku, Riku…_ Sora's mind was singing all day long. He could barely keep his eyes off of the lovely sight of his boyfriend; regardless of the circumstances surrounding the silver-haired prince's return, Sora was simply ecstatic to be near to the boy again.

Naturally, the prince himself was as cool and calm as ever. Even in front of the odd stares that kept coming their way after the brunet's little display in homeroom, Riku acted as if nothing was amiss. He acted much as he always had, greeting the astonished Axel and nearly-fainting Kairi with a smile and a wave, winking at Larxene mischievously before slipping a slice of tomato down the back of Demyx's shirt, and generally acting as if he hadn't been excommunicated.

Even at lunch he completely avoided the topic; when the group of friends eagerly pushed for details the prince simply shook his head and said nothing, changing the topic to anything but what had happened to him for the past two weeks.

Eventually the end of the day arrived, and Sora was still no wiser as to the royal family's apparent change of heart. The brunet strolled down the path to the boarding house alongside Riku, chewing on his thumbnail. There had to be _some_ way of making the silent prince talk!

Well… he could think of several. A few of which he might consider doing. They might even be reasonably fun, and if the whole reason for the 'interrogation' was lost, all the better. His mouth slipped into a grin. Unless Riku spilled, tonight was going to be damn interesting…

* * *

It took forever, simply getting through the boarding house. Every few steps someone would stop them to say hello to the prince, a 'welcome back' or a 'how was your holiday'. They didn't really like the lack of answer to the latter, though.

_It's amazing how different this is to last term,_ Sora thought. _They all know he's a prince but they're not sucking up anymore. It took a while, that it did._ The brunet's smile was small and fleeting, but he knew a victory when he saw one. Even tiny ones like this were worth celebrating. _It's probably the fact that he hung around me… and started pulling pranks. _

Sora sighed happily when they finally made it to the stairwell, past the throng of boarders who were all busy meeting each other once again, clapping backs and telling raucous stories about their holidays. The brunet grinned and quickly undid the three locks he had locked at the beginning of the day, opening the door.

He threw his bag onto his bed and spun on the prince, who was busily putting away his schoolbag under his bed. "Now," Sora said menacingly as he grabbed Riku by the scruff of the neck and pulled him into a desperate hug. "It's so good to see you…" he mumbled into Riku's shirt. "I can't believe you're really back!"

Riku's arms wrapped around Sora's shoulders, squeezing him tightly. "I can't believe I'm back either…" Sora's head nuzzled against his sternum gently, the boy's tears making his shirt damp. Finally, Riku pulled away slightly. When Sora muttered a "no!" and pulled closer, Riku sighed heavily. He pinched Sora's ear until the brunet looked up at him, annoyed. "Lemme sit down, silly."

Abashed, Sora let go long enough for the prince to sit on his bed and lean against the wall, then he was curled up next to the boy, resting his head on Riku's thigh. He rolled over and grinned up at Riku. "I love you, Riku," he mumbled. He had never told the prince that before. It had never felt like quite the right time. "I love you so much… The past week hurt so badly 'cause I couldn't see you."

Riku nodded, smiling softly. "I love you too, Sora," he admitted, kissing the boy on his nose. "I love you more than life itself."

* * *

It was about an hour later; Sora and Riku were still there on the bed, simply enjoying the other's presence. Sora's eyes were slowly drooping shut when they snapped open. He pushed himself up with his hands, looking into Riku's eyes. "Hey, you never told me why you came back," he stated. "Are you going to tell me?" 

Riku grinned for a moment. "Okay, I'll tell you. But I don't want you to tell anyone else; it's gotta be a secret for at least another two months," he instructed, raising one eyebrow. "Can you keep a secret?"

Sora sat up straight and pouted. "Hey, I kept you and me a secret… except from a few people," he corrected himself, looking away. "Besides!" he yelled, turning back to the prince. "I had a whole plan to get the answers out of you 'cause you were going to be your usual quiet self!"

The silver-haired boy laughed. "I should have expected that," he murmured. "Ah well. If you want, we can do that afterwards," he offered slyly, grinning at the brunet.

Sora snorted. "Yeah, right. There'll be no point in it if I wait till _afterwards_," he muttered, shaking his brown spiky hair. "Besides… I've been waiting _all day_ to do this!"

Riku barely had time to blink once before Sora roughly grabbed him by the shoulders and shove him down onto the bed, throwing himself on top. The prince winced as Sora's elbow went by mistake into his arm, then the pain as gone as the brunet's cherubic lips pressed up against his. Everything was gone, except for his precious boy.

Warmth spread through his body like liquid fire, igniting passion and intense desire in its wake. His arms slipped by themselves around Sora's tiny form, meeting on the other side and pulling the boy closer. The brunet's little hands clasped around the back of Riku's neck, his thumbs just in front of the boy's ears.

Eventually Sora broke the kiss, gasping for breath. His face was red all over, making his large, sky-blue eyes stand out all the more. Riku smiled and caressed the boy's chin, marvelling as he often did at his extraordinary luck at finding such a sweet boy.

The brunet licked his lips, his eyes glazing over for a second. Suddenly they snapped back to Riku, a look of mock-anger gliding across his face. "You… taste like cinnamon," he muttered, raising an eyebrow. "Last night, while I was asleep… did you-"

"Come in here?" Riku asked, his eyes twinkling. "Steal a kiss from your lips? Most certainly!" he finished, winking. "How could I not? After all," he murmured, running a thumb over Sora's cherubic lips, feeling their tenderness. "I couldn't resist."

Sora rolled his eyes before settling his head on Riku's chest. "So, mind telling me now why you were able to come back?" he enquired, letting his eyes sink shut.

"Hmm… I think I might need a little more convincing," Riku answered sagely, looking thoughtful. After a second, he grinned down at the fuzzy head resting on his chest. "What do you think?"

"Hey, Sora? You in there?" Roxas' voice sounded from outside the door. "Hey, it's unlocked." The door cracked open, and the blond kid's face appeared on the other side. "Hey, did you get an answ-Oh dear God…"

Riku glared at the boy. "A little privacy, please?" Roxas nodded thoroughly, his cheeks aflame. His face disappeared and the door slammed shut. The prince waved and all of the locks set, preventing another interruption. "You knew that was coming, didn't you?" he accused, poking Sora.

The brunet's head popped up, nodding enthusiastically. "Yup!" Then the nodding stopped, and a malicious grin formed on his face. "Now… about that convincing…"

* * *

Half an hour later, and both boys were panting for breath, faces red. Riku sat up, gasping. Sometime in the past thirty minutes his shirt had ripped, and it hung off him in tatters. _That… that was certainly convincing,_ he thought, his ability to breathe normally slowly returning. 

Neither he nor Sora were unfit, but after their little session, anybody would be gasping. Riku grinned, glad he could have this again. He had missed his Sora for the past week and a bit; but thanks to his mother – and his father, as odd as it was – he could once again be here. He blinked, looking at Sora. The poor brunet couldn't even see straight; he looked as dizzy as hell. Riku was secretly pleased with his ability to do that to Sora.

The brunet in question shook his head roughly before grinning cheekily at Riku. "You look convinced now," he murmured, his eyes twinkling. "So, let's hear that story."

Riku nodded, his face dipping into a serious expression. "Well… I'm sure you remember our last day together. What with the mob and Dill and all that, it's a little hard to forget." Sora nodded grimly, muttering darkly under his breath about Dill. "Anyway… as it turns out, the people of Radiant Garden decided that they really didn't want me for a king," Riku said, a hint of relief entering his voice. "As the largest group of homophobes on the planet, having a homosexual king would be downright weird, so they made a huge fuss over it."

Sora blinked, confused. "But… then, who's gonna rule after your dad?"

Riku's face lit up into a huge smile, perhaps even a proud smile. "I'm gonna be a big brother in about seven month's time!" he yelled, bouncing up and down in an uncharacteristic display of emotion. "How awesome is that!"

The brunet's jaw dropped. "You're… kidding. You've gotta be kidding me. Your mom's…" Riku nodded, his eyes sparkling. Sora smiled, hugging his lover. "That's great!" he cheered excitedly. "Can I-?"

Riku nodded quickly, getting up and pulling the remnants of his shirt off. "Let's go tell blondie one and blondie two."

Similar reactions stemmed from Larxene and Roxas. Larxene hugged both of them, crying tears of joy, mumbling something about 'lucky them' and something about not electrocuting Riku anymore; the second of which made him twitch nervously, anxious to be far away from the crazy girl. Roxas slapped the prince on the back as hard as he could, making the silver-haired boy stumble forwards. Within seconds he had returned the favour with interest, knocking the blond twin flat on his face.

The two lovers walked down the corridor, Riku massaging his hand thoughtfully. "So… Now what?"

Sora glanced at his watch. "We have a couple hours till dinner. Why don't we go find some way to fill that time?" he asked slyly, glancing sidelong at his boyfriend.

Prince Pinecone grinned and winked. "That sounds like a good idea," he anwered, opening the door to their room.

There was a click as all twenty locks engaged behind the two lovers.

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**Author's Final Ramble: Well, thank you for reading my first BL story. I enjoyed writing this, especially the challenge of writing about two of my favourite characters. Thanks for reading, and to all of you who reviewed, thanks a bunch for reviewing. **

**Now, don't be afraid to spread the word about my story!**

_**(Ties Riku to a chair)**_** Now, let us bring forth reviews! **_**(Puts on a Billy Joel CD)**_

**You know the drill!**

**Goodbye, my faithful audience. I hope to see you all reading my next story.**

**And for the final time this time… Author out.**


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